Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said on Tuesday he is not worried by the club’s recent struggles against Champions League opponents Bayern Munich.
The German giants have beaten Barcelona in each of their last six meetings and the Catalans have failed to score in the last four of those.
When Flick was coach of Bayern they thrashed Barcelona 8-2 in the 2020 Champions League quarter-finals.
“The past doesn’t matter, the present is what’s important,” Flick told reporters before Wednesday’s league phase clash against Vincent Kompany’s visiting side.
“Whatever happened in the past we can’t change, we can only influence what happens tomorrow. Of course we want to try and beat Bayern Munich.”
Barcelona last won the Champions League in 2015 and last reached the semi-finals in 2019.
Flick won a remarkable six titles with the Bundesliga leaders in 2020 and has quickly improved revived Barcelona after arriving in Spain this summer.
Barca are top of the Spanish league and face their biggest tests of the season this week against Bayern and then at rivals Real Madrid on Saturday in La Liga.
“Bayern are a team in good form with a lot of confidence, they’re a top, top team with great players,” said Flick.
“We want to test ourselves against the best—it’s a Champions League game against Bayern Munich, it’s going to be great.
“(I had) a great time there, with great memories, but I’m living a new chapter now at Barca.”
Bayern coach Kompany said Flick’s time at the club was still spoken about with reverence.
“Hansi was not just a coach at Bayern but a very successful coach, a person who represented the club in a way that is still spoken about today,” he told a news conference.
“(However) the duel is between the two teams, the 11 players on the pitch.
“Hansi’s idea is very clear, I hope that our ideas are clear as well, but tomorrow we will have to see which team is able to win this game.”
‘Its own history’ –
Kompany said Bayern’s 8-2 thrashing of Barcelona was in the past and he was only focussing on the match at the Olympic stadium.
“I actually just want to talk about the match tomorrow, that’s the only important thing,” insisted the Belgian coach.
“I do understand the surroundings, all that is around the match, increases the drama of the match tomorrow, but it’s just about the 90 minutes and (the match) will have its own history.”
Kompany praised Barcelona for being able to replace departed great Lionel Messi so quickly with teenage Spain star Lamine Yamal.
The youngster, 17, won Euro 2024 with his country this summer and is already vital for Barca on the right flank.
“Honestly, it’s already exceptional for Barca as a club, so shortly after the departure of Messi, who for all the players of my generation, was a key figure in our football era, to so quickly have a player who could potentially replace him, it’s unique,” said Kompany.
“Full credit to (Barca’s youth academy) La Masia, to trust these type of players and give them a chance.
“We have to try and win a game of football against Barcelona, not just one player, although he is an exceptional player.”
