Hansi Flick talks Pedri, Rashford, Balde’s handball, Raphinha after Levante 2-3 Barcelona | OneFootball

FC Barcelona faced Levante in the second match of their 2025-26 La Liga campaign, and this tie once again turned out to be a memorable affair for the Blaugrana fans.

The Catalan giants were down by 2 goals at the stroke of half-time, and things were not looking too good for them in this first phase of the match.

However, Hansi Flick reorganized his team during the break, and this change in setup bore fruit for the Catalans as they were ultimately able to end the game with a 3-2 victory with goals from Pedri and Ferran Torres, and another own-goal from a Levante player.

While he had stressed a need for improvement from the team after the first game against Mallorca, the Barcelona coach gave in to his players after this incredible win, as he talked to the press after the match. As Mundo Deportivo has reported, Flick expressed pride in his team after this win:

“Levante defended very well… They have very fast players. In the first half, we created chances to do something more. In the second half, Pedri’s goal helped us a lot.”

The German tactician also admitted that some of the referee’s decisions were infuriating:

“You get angry with those kinds of decisions… For me, it wasn’t clear handball by Balde. The play isn’t clear. In the end, the referee analyzed the situation and decided. We must respect that.”

“The important thing is that we left with three points, but we have to analyze the match. Each game should help us to keep growing. Levante didn’t make it easy because they have very fast players who complicate the game.”

Flick expressed his satisfaction with the level shown by Marcus Rashford in his starting debut and also highlighted the contributions of some of the other players:

“He has shown us how good he is. In the second half, I had to change some things, and I put Raphinha back on the left wing. Fortunately, Pedri’s goal helped us.”

The team certainly deserves plaudits for the way it got out of a difficult situation to get all three points from this game. However, Hansi Flick will have to ensure his Barcelona team does not often find itself in these difficult situations to begin with, and hopefully, he will be able to find a solution for this problem soon.