Barcelona coach Hansi Flick believed Eric García’s early red card was the turning point in Thursday’s 2-1 defeat to AS Monaco and insisted his team are strong enough to progress to the revamped Champions League.

García was sent off after just ten minutes for a foul on the last man, but goals from Maghnes Akliouche and George Ilenikhena, along with Lamine Yamal’s equaliser, gave the Ligue 1 side three points at the Stade Louis II stadium.

The defeat was Barça’s first under Flick, after an impressive start to the season that has seen them make it five straight LaLiga wins so far.

“I think we defended with a lot of passion,” the German coach said at a post-match press conference. “Lamine’s goal brought us back to 1-1. We had chances. In the end, we tried to stay in the game with a compact defense, close together, but you also see that (Monaco) brings in a lot of players with enormous speed. It wasn’t easy to defend.

“After the red card the game changed completely. The positive things are that we tried to defend as a team and attack as a team. We have chances, but they deserve the 2-1, so we have to accept that.

“I’m not worried. We have to analyse this, but as I say to the team now: ‘Pay attention,’ because they were a bit disappointed in the dressing room.”

Barça host Young Boys in their next Champions League match on October 1 and face the likes of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Benfica and Atalanta in the competition.

In the new format, the top eight teams in the league phase will advance directly to the round of 16. The teams that finish between ninth and twenty-fourth will advance to a knockout round, in which twelve teams will be eliminated.

Despite the defeat against AS Monaco, Flick has no doubts that Barça will qualify for the next round.

“No,” he replied when asked if Thursday’s loss was further evidence that Barca have a problem with the Champions League, having failed to reach the knockout stages twice in the past three years.

“You see the situation today. After 10 minutes, the red card. It changed totally our idea, our game plan. We have to accept this. It happens.

“I think we are strong enough to play a good Champions League. We have seven games and I think we will win many games and in the end we will achieve our goals.”

The match changed when García brought down Takumi Minamino after the former Liverpool forward had intercepted a short pass from Barça goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen in the early stages of the match. Ter Stegen said the error was a misunderstanding between the two and claimed Barça deserved a point.

“Yes, definitely (the red card decided the game),” he told reporters. “There was a misunderstanding in that situation. I feel sorry for Eric because it cost him something. Then we have to play 80 minutes less per player.

“It shouldn’t have happened, but it happens in football. It hurts, because even with 10 men we showed up.

“The game was out of control, but we showed ourselves. In the end we lost by one goal, the second came out of nowhere and was not really deserved at that moment.”

One of the positives from Barça’s defeat was the return of Ansu Fati, who returned from injury and made his first appearance of the season.

“I saw him in the last weeks of training and when the pre-season started I saw him completely differently,” said Flick.

“I spent some time at Brighton last season and I saw him in training and in a game and here he is completely different. He is focused, he brings his quality onto the pitch. He needs some time now but he will get it.”

Fati remains the youngest goalscorer in the Champions League at 17 years and 40 days old when he scored against Internazionale in 2019. However, he watched from the bench as team-mate Yamal became the second-youngest goalscorer in the competition at 17 years and 68 days.

Yamal now has four goals and four assists in six games in all competitions this season, which has led to opponents doubling down or treating him differently. As a result, Flick took him off Monaco early to save him for Sunday’s trip to Villarreal in La Liga.

“Lamine tried a lot today,” Flick explained. “It was a tough game for him, they (attacked) him really hard. This is the way. He has to adapt to this. For Pau (Cubarsi) and him, (they took them off) it was also thinking about Sunday.”