Barcelona extended their poor run of form and lost the top spot in Spanish football's La Liga, losing 1-2 at home to Atletico Madrid on Saturday night, but head coach Hansi Flick urged his team to move on and come back stronger after the winter break, BTA reported.
Despite Barcelona's first home defeat against Atletico in 18 years, Flick believes his players showed a good performance and expects the winter break to help them regain their form from the start of the season.
"It was incredible how we played. Maybe this break comes at the right time. I appreciate how we played, but we have to learn from these things. Losing 9 points is not normal and we have to work on that," Flick said, quoted by the "Reuters" agency.
"The lost points against Las Palmas and Leganes are in the past. We will show after the break how strong we are. We are very disappointed with the defeat, but life goes on," the German coach of Barcelona also said.
Hansi Flick added that he was proud of his young team and would work to restore the confidence of his players.
"When I drive at 6:30 to go to training, I am happy because I can train with these players. There is not a good atmosphere in the locker room right now, but that is football. We will definitely come back. We have to build confidence and make the players proud of the way they play. My job is to give confidence to all the players. "In Munich there was another team with very experienced players. I am happy with this team, it is young and has fantastic qualities," commented Flick.