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‘Soft’ FC Barcelona Coach Flick Blasted By Angry Fans For ‘Rewarding Team’ After Leganes Loss

FC Barcelona fans have attacked head coach Hansi Flick for 'rewarding' his players following a limp 1-0 loss to Leganes on Sunday in La Liga.

Barca was done a huge favour by Rayo Vallecano, which 24 hours previously looked to be on its way to winning comfortably against title race rival Rayo Vallecano.

Los Blancos came back from 2-0 down to eventually lead 3-2, yet still slipped up as Isi Palazon equalized and denied its visitors all three points in Vallecas.

Barca had the chance to go four clear of Madrid by seeing off relegation-threatened Leganes in Montjuic in a late night affair which brought the club's lowest home attendance of the season.

As seen against Las Palmas a fortnight ago, however, Barca was unable to respond to supposedly inferior opposition following Sergio Poirrier's goal on four minutes, and left midfielder Pedri to lament a "screwed up game".

"It is impossible to leave happy today. I think we started a little asleep, they scored that goal against us. And then we woke up, we created chances, but we lacked spark," the number 8 complained to Catalan media outlet TV3.

"We have to get into the games better. When a team like that scores quickly, they put a lot of people behind [the ball]. And we lacked the spark I said and clarity in front of goal. We're on a bad run and we have to improve," he then added.

In the hours that followed the full time whistle, Mundo Deportivo, citing anonymous sources, reported that Flick would give his team two days' rest.

The newspaper explained that the players did not have a single day's rest after beating Borussia Dortmund 3-2 in the Champions League and even trained the following day in Germany.

The purpose of the short holiday is for the players to recharge their batteries and go all out for Saturday's huge showdown with second-placed Atletico Madrid, where if Barca plays as it has done the last two times on home soil, it is at real risk of making it three defeats on the trot before Culers.

Yet some angry Barca fans don't want to hear it, and see their underperforming stars as being rewarded for poor displays.

The comments section on the Mundo Deportivo article is laden with criticism, with JoResistencia saying that giving two days' rest for every game they lose is "bad business".

"He's getting soft already!," Declan80 remarked. "They deserve to watch the video of the defeat over and over again today! 2 days off, come on!!"

"I think they need to work on their physical fitness again, they are so unfit they can't even compete with U-13s. But no, they need to rest because the team is 'very, very' tired. FLICK GO ALREADY," scoffed JPP23.

Others forced us to imagine how Flick's predecessor Xavi Hernandez would have been criticized had he done the same.

But that's all hypothetical, and with Atleti arguably Spain's best in-form team at the moment and Flick unable to command his troops because of a ban, further unrest could be on its way ahead of the Christmas break.

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