rewrite this title Hansi Flick makes surprise claim after Barcelona beat Las Palmas

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick wasn’t overly impressed with his team’s performance despite beating Las Palmas 2-0 to maintain their one-point advantage over Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga.

The Catalan giants had to wait over an hour for Dani Olmo to break the deadlock following some impressive work from Lamine Yamal, and the result was only put to bed in stoppage-time by substitute Ferran Torres.

Barcelona were frustrated by the home side’s compactness in the first half, and weren’t able to get Yamal as involved as they would have liked. But as the game wore on, spaces began to open up as Las Palmas tired, and it was a well-deserved victory in the end for La Liga’s top team.

But wanting to set standards high, Flick acknowledged after the game that Barcelona’s performance level fell short of where it needed to be, suggesting progress will be needed if they are to retain their advantage over Atletico and Real Madrid.

“We didn’t play a very good game,” Flick told reporters post-match. “But we won 0-2 and that’s good. With the three points, the road back is easier to face. At half-time, we explained to them what to do better in some situations and we talked about what wasn’t being done as we wanted. The players were good.

“We’re very happy with the three points, but not so much with our performance. It’s normal that I’m tired. But we’re still leaders in La Liga. And in the end we want to progress and be better.”

One pleasing element for Flick was the goalscoring return of Olmo, who rattled home off the underside of the crossbar after Yamal breezed past Aitor Munoz before laying on a perfectly-weighted assist.

There was another opportunity for Torres, linked with a €30m move to Chelsea on Saturday, to shine from the bench, and he registered his fifth goal of the season despite notching up just 650 minutes of La Liga action so far this season.

“The goal is very important, for us and for him,” Flick said of Olmo. “He didn’t play more before because he was injured and the others were also a little better in terms of fitness. We are happy for him. It was a good goal for him. And also for Ferran, who also came off the bench. Everyone was also involved in defence, and we kept a clean sheet again, and that is good.

“I’m happy with Ferran. He has scored many goals even coming off the bench. It’s not easy for him, but he always has the opportunity to earn a place in the starting XI.

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