Barcelona coach Hansi Flick on Ronald Araujo’s fitness, rotations and Lamine Yamal

After a difficult trip to Son Moix that resulted in a 5-1 victory, Barcelona cannot rest on their laurels this weekend as they play Real Betis at the Benito Villamarín. With Ansu Fati and Andreas Christensen closing in on a comeback, and Robert Lewandowski rested against RCD Mallorca, rotations and fitness were the key topics of Hansi Flick’s pre-match press conference.

Flick had admitted that initially the plan was to rest Raphinha in Son Moix, but instead decided to send Lewandowski to the bench, but did not plan to sit the Brazilian in Seville.

“We need Raphinha in every game, he is a key player for us. We’ll see how it is. If Rapha says he is good, we will see how long he can play, whether it is 90, 70 or 60. He will play as long as he can. He will start tomorrow, Lewandowski is also important for us and he will also start.”

Meanwhile, Ronald Araujo has returned to full training for more than a week, but Flick will not use him against Betis.

“Not tomorrow, he will go with us to Dortmund, but not necessarily to sit on the bench. Maybe I can play. But his goal was Leganés from the beginning. He is fine in partial training, but it is not easy to include him in all games, because the team is already full. Today we have 21 outfield players and three goalkeepers, so I am very happy about that.”

Hansi Flick: “Real Betis is a very good team, they have players with a lot of experience. We know that Isco is back, he is a very good player. In the end they are always capable of pressing high. It is the style they want to play.” pic.twitter.com/aMqpVDlU4g

— Barcacentre (@barcacentre) December 6, 2024

“However, our focus for today was tomorrow’s game, so we’ll see how we can fit that in.”

He was also asked about having a near-full squad, something he has yet to experience, excluding the injuries to Marc Bernal and Marc-André ter Stegen.

“When you look at next year, how many games we will have, it is very important that we have options to let one or two players recover, this is much better when everyone is there. “I like having everyone available to play and I hope we finish this year with everyone healthy.”

Flick pointed out that without Lamine Yamal as a starter in the league, Barcelona has not won, but has added three points in each game. The German was asked if Lamine Yamal was the best or the most decisive player in Europe.

“If the statistic is true, then we will look for tomorrow,” Flick said with a wry smile avoiding the rest of the question.

Barcelona face Real Betis on Saturday at 16:15 CEST at the Benito Villamarín, where they can leave Real Madrid seven points behind in La Liga as they play Girona later in the day. However, the victory against Mallorca was the first of four, a clear indicator that they have no room for complacency.