FC Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick had to wonder whether his team’s 2-1 defeat to AS Monaco in the Champions League was the “worst game” of the season so far.

Barca went into their 2024-25 UCL debut with five wins from five in La Liga. However, at the Louis Stadium II on Wednesday night, a poor pass from Marc-Andre ter Stegen from close range resulted in Eric Garcia being shown a red card as the last man to commit a foul, meaning the Catalans trailed with 10 men for more than 80 minutes.

Lamine Yamal equalised with his first-ever goal in Europe around the half-hour mark after Maghnes Akliouche opened the scoring for the hosts. But with around 20 minutes remaining, George Ilenikhena fired in the winner to make it two Barca wins in two months, given the Blaugrana’s 3-0 drubbing in August.

However, during his post-match press conference, Flick refused to explicitly confirm that this week’s defeat was the worst game of his reign and of the season so far.

“When you win and lose five times, you can say it’s the worst – yes. We didn’t start badly. In some phases the combinations weren’t good. But I still think I saw positive things and now we have to focus on La Liga,” Flick said.

Asked if he was concerned that the first defeat of his tenure came on the continent, Flick insisted that everything changed after the red card and that his men were “strong enough to play in the Champions League”.

“There are seven games left and we will achieve our goals,” he promised.

“We will be stronger and there are still seven games to go,” Flick reiterated elsewhere. “In the next games we have to get our energy back. We have games every three days, but we already know what it is.”

With an away game against Villarreal on Sunday in which the first and fourth places are essentially at stake, Flick confirmed that he is considering resting his 17-year-olds Lamine and Pau Cubarsi at El Madrigal.