Hansi Flick's Dilemma: Right-Back Decision Ahead of Atlético Clash
Hansi Flick has spent the past fortnight watching his options narrow and his dilemmas sharpen. Atlético are coming, Álex Baena and Ademola Lookman are waiting, and one simple question hangs over his whiteboard.
Right flank, big decision
On form, Brian Fariñas has done everything a coach could ask. Twice Flick has pushed him into a role that does not belong to him by nature, twice he has responded without a flicker of doubt. Alavés first, then Aston Villa: two games, two faultless displays, two loud statements.
Merit matters to Flick. He has built his Barcelona around players who earn their place, not those who simply own a reputation. Fariñas has ticked every box.
Yet the equation is not that simple.
The German’s faith in Eric García runs deep. When García is fit, he tends to play. Flick sees him as a defender who understands structure, distances, the tempo of a high line. If the medical staff clear him after that muscle problem which has already cost him four matches, his chances of starting are immediately strong.
That sets up a straight contest between trust and rhythm.
García offers calm and experience in big nights, but he comes in cold. Fariñas brings form, sharpness and a sense of momentum. Whoever wins that battle will walk straight into a brutal assignment: tracking Baena’s constant drifting, his tight control, his ability to change pace and direction in a heartbeat.
And that might not be the end of it. If Diego Simeone decides to lean hard on raw speed down that side, Flick may feel compelled to pick the quicker profile, sacrificing familiarity for pure athletic cover. The man he chooses will not only chase Baena’s shadow; he will also have to keep Lookman quiet.
Lookman has not yet hit the heights of last season, but everyone in this tie knows how quickly he can ignite. One loose touch, one mistimed step, and the narrative changes.
Jules Koundé, at another time the obvious solution, barely enters the conversation. An ankle sprain still troubles him, and his importance in the side has faded in recent weeks. Right now, he looks like a theoretical option rather than a real one.
Midfield puzzle without Rodri
If the back line is a tactical riddle, midfield is a balancing act. Rodri’s injury landed just as Frenkie de Jong finally emerged from his own spell in the treatment room. One pillar down, one pillar back.
Flick has leaned on De Jong from the start. Big games, tense moments, difficult away trips – the Dutchman has been his reference point. Even when De Jong was returning cautiously, the coach found ways to keep him close: starting him at centre-back against Alavés to rest Gerard Martín, easing him in from the bench in the Champions League, sending him on for the final 20 minutes in place of Pedri.
Yet the most logical like-for-like answer to Rodri’s absence is not De Jong, but Marc Bernal.
Bernal has already done the job. He stepped in for Rodri after the break during the 3-0 dismantling of Aston Villa, slotted into the rhythm, and allowed Barcelona to keep suffocating the English side. Flick also trusted him against Paris Saint-Germain, the very match in which he decided Rodri could finally sit down for once.
That matters. Coaches remember who held their nerve when the stadium was loudest.
So Flick stands at another crossroads. Bernal offers continuity in the role and has recent credit in the bank. De Jong offers personality, press resistance and a long history of delivering when the stage is at its fiercest. Flick’s habit of starting the Dutchman in the hardest fixtures could tilt the decision his way again.
The choice in that central slot will define how Barcelona try to control Atlético: with the steady, positional discipline of Bernal, or the elastic, ball-carrying authority of De Jong.
Attack: one spot, two stories
Up front, two positions are already inked in. Lamine Yamal is immovable on the right. Raphinha, central, gives the front line its edge and aggression. Those calls are not really calls any more; they are the base of the attacking plan.
The doubt lies on the left, where the scales keep tipping in the same direction.
Anthony Gordon has become Flick’s go-to winger for the nights that matter. Paris Saint-Germain home and away, the Clasico, Galatasaray – when the tension rises, the coach almost always turns to the Englishman. His work rate, his willingness to run at full-backs, his defensive commitment without the ball: these are traits that win managers’ trust.
The exception came at La Cartuja, where Flick instead chose the German option on that flank. It felt like a specific plan for a specific occasion, not a change of hierarchy.
Karim Adeyemi, by contrast, is stuck in a long pause. No goal, no decisive assist since 13 October, when he struck Barcelona’s final goal in the 4-1 demolition at Galatasaray. That night suggested a launchpad. It has not yet become one.
Form is unforgiving at this level. While Adeyemi searches for his spark, Gordon keeps stacking big-game minutes. Every time Flick writes his teamsheet for a heavyweight clash, the pattern repeats.
A night that will define pecking orders
So the picture is clear and complicated at once. Fariñas or García at right-back, with Baena and Lookman circling. Bernal or De Jong at the heart of midfield, carrying Rodri’s abandoned load. Gordon or Adeyemi on the left, one flying, one waiting.
Flick has built his Barcelona on merit, trust and hard choices. Atlético will test all three.
