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Hansi Flick takes extra steps to ensure his Barcelona team’s direct qualification to UCL Round of 16

Although FC Barcelona have struggled to get the required results in La Liga for the last few weeks, the Blaugranes have still performed up to the mark in the UEFA Champions League.

In the European competition, the Catalans have won four matches after losing their opening game against Monaco. Thus, they have a good chance to advance to the Round of 16 directly as they currently stand third in the UCL table.

As Mundo Deportivo has noted, it seems like Hansi Flick is also focused on achieving this, as he has provided some of his key starters much-needed rest ahead of the difficult game against Borussia Dortmund, which will be played at the Signal Iduna Park on Wednesday.

For instance, for the game against Mallorca, the Barcelona trainer did not play Robert Lewandowski, one of his most trusted players in the squad, for even a single minute, after the 36-year-old Pole had started the last 20 consecutive games.

Similarly, in the match against Real Betis, the German coach subbed out some of his important players early to keep them fresh for the match against Dortmund. Dani Olmo and Raphinha were subbed out on the hour mark. Pedri and Lewandowski then followed these players off the pitch in the 74th minute.

All of these substitutions were made when Barcelona were leading on the scoreboard, but at no moment in the game was a victory assured for the Blaugranes, especially with the way the two teams were playing.

Still, Flick decided to take these important players off, and admitted in the post-match presser that he did so while keeping the Dortmund match in mind.

With this rest, these players should be ready for the highly intense test awaiting them on Wednesday, and hopefully, they will be able to get the required result and pave their way to the next round of competition in this game.