"He's been in the competition for two years and he's still a kid.What the other player [Messi] did is almost impossible to repeat, but Lamine makes the difference. If Lamine isn't good, Barça isn't good. We'll try to defend him well, but it's true that Barça isn't just Lamine. The other day Araújo came on and scored the goal. You have to be perfect to beat them."
"Flick's Barça is important because of the group, not because of its key players. We know that in this competition we're going to face teams as good as Barça. We've already played against Arsenal, and now we have this one. We know that if we play well, we can have a chance. Now I see Flick being criticized for playing too far forward, but so far, as far as I know, it's worked for him."
"Mendilibar was also asked about Flick's high line, which has come under scrutiny after recent defeats, but didn't criticise the tactic. Now that they've lost two games, it seems everyone sees weaknesses, but Barcelona hasn't changed their style of play. Maybe injuries and a lack of rotation have made them lose some of their automatisms. I don't see the high defense as a weakness either, because they've been doing it for months."
Lamine Yamal is fit again and expected to start for Barcelona, and is viewed as the team's decisive difference maker. Olympiacos plans to mark Yamal tightly while recognizing Barcelona have multiple threats, illustrated by Araújo's game-changing goal. Barcelona seek to recover after a Champions League defeat to PSG. Flick's Barcelona is characterized as a strong collective unit rather than reliant on single players. Criticism has emerged of Flick's high defensive line after recent losses, but the high line is defended as a sustained tactical approach, with injuries and limited rotation seen as causes for lapses in automatisms.
Read at Barca Blaugranes
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