BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona coach Hansi Flick confirmed he has replaced dropping players with «huge» fines in the event they arrive late on match days.
Raphinha and Marcus Rashford were among the high profile names to be left on the bench earlier this season as Flick stuck to a strict policy on punctuality.
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However, after speaking with the team captains, he decided to change a sporting punishment for a financial sanction.
«For me, it was always stressful when I looked to my watch and it was maybe 60, 45 seconds to go and [a player], was not there,» he said in a news conference Friday.
«I was always thinking: ‘Are they coming?’ So I decided [to change it] and I spoke with the captains.
«This was not always easy this situation. I don’t like this pressure, either, because it is also pressure for me, because it doesn’t matter who, I had to say he will not play.»
Raphinha was benched against Valencia in September and Rashford against Getafe a week later, following on from high profile cases last season involving Jules Koundé and Iñaki Peña.
Flick says the implementation of a fine — which first team players Pedri and Ferran Torres have said is around €40,000 — has so far had the desired effect
«The fine is huge and, until now, no one came one second too late, so I think it was the right decision,» the German coach added.
Flick was speaking ahead of Barça’s LaLiga game against Villarreal at Spotify Camp Nou on Saturday when he will bring up 100 games in charge of the Spanish champions.
In 99 games so far, he has registered 74 wins, the second most of any Barça coach at this stage after Luis Enrique, but he says that will mean nothing if the season doesn’t end with more silverware.
«Of course it’s a great honour to reach this number,» he said. «It was a dream to coach this club, so to have 100 games is amazing.
«But I never look at numbers. For me, it is about the number at the end of the season. When we are first [in the table], it’s perfect.»
Barça can temporarily move four points clear at the top of LaLiga with a win over Villarreal, with second placed Real Madrid not in action until Monday, when they host Getafe.
Flick will be without Frenkie de Jong this weekend, who has been ruled out for six weeks with a hamstring injury, but Pedri is pushing to start after returning as a substitute in last weekend’s win over Levante.
