Hansi Flick talks Pau Cubarsi, Wojciech Szczęsny and Dani Olmo after Benfica win

Hansi Flick was a happy man after seeing his team beat Benfica 1-0 in the Champions League despite being reduced to 10 men after Pau Cubarsi was sent off.

Cubarsi’s red card was a real blow but Flick wasn’t interested in blaming the youngster after the match and instead spoke about his team’s impressive response instead.

“What Pau does happens in football, and today it happened to us. We all make mistakes,” he said. “The most important thing is how we responded, and the reaction was very good. We are satisfied with the victory. We defended very well, as a team, and that is the most important thing. We managed the match well and it is a very big victory. “After being reduced to 10 players, it wasn’t easy and we did very well, but we still have to play the return leg. Benfica is a good team and we have to be careful.”

Flick sacrificed Dani Olmo after Cubarsi’s red card and made it clear it was purely a tactical decision that had to be made.

“I told Olmo that we had to choose someone, it had nothing to do with his performance,” he added. “They were tactical adjustments.”

And there was also plenty of praise for goalkeeper Szczesny after a simply brilliant display by the stopper.

“‘Tek’ was fantastic, but not just him. It’s clear that Szczesny is different, every match he has more confidence and we are defending better,” he explained. “I know he could play at this level because I see him every day in training.”

The Barca boss raised a few eyebrows when he made Szczesny his No. 1 this season, ahead of Inaki Pena, but it certainly looks an inspired decision right now.

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