Barcelona played beautiful football: Ancelotti

BENGALURU:

Barcelona's LaLiga title was well deserved as Hansi Flick's side played the game with consistency and beauty, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said ahead of Sunday's LaLiga trip to 14th placed Sevilla.

With Barcelona beating Real to the LaLiga title, Copa del Rey, and the Spanish Super Cup, Real, having been knocked out of the Champions League, only have the Club World Cup left to fight for in terms of silverware this year.

"This is part of football, sometimes you're not able to get the best out of everyone. Barcelona have done very well, because they've been more consistent in the league and played very beautiful football," Ancelotti told reporters. "I congratulate them. They deserved to win this league. Next year will be a different story."

Real were beaten by Barcelona in all four encounters across all competitions in a season where Barca scored an astonishing 97 goals in 36 league matches, 23 more than Real.

Ancelotti, who is set to leave at the end of the season to coach five-times world champions Brazil, lamented the number of injuries his side had suffered.

"This team has been able to believe even when no one believed (in us). I will never criticise these players who have been able to give me so much joy over the years," the Italian said.

"There have been too many injuries and very important players... throughout this season, these kinds of injuries have hurt us."

The coach noted that his last season, after six mostly successful years at the Santiago Bernabeu across two stints, would have been even better if Real had been in the LaLiga title race until the final day.

Flick wants Barca title party repeat 'every year'

After enjoying Barcelona's La Liga title celebrations Hansi Flick said Saturday he would love to repeat them every season.

The German coach led the Catalan giants to a domestic treble in his first year at the club, beating Espanyol on Thursday to add La Liga to Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup triumphs.

An estimated 670,000 fans hit the streets to celebrate as the team cruised towards the city's Arc de Triomf monument on an open-top bus on Friday, revelling in the club's 28th Spanish title.

"When you see in the faces of the people, the passion for this club, for this amazing club and how they celebrate this, it's really good to see," Flick told a news conference Saturday.

"Of course, (if) we have this every year it's not bad -- so we go for this, we work hard on this in the next years.

"It's not easy but when we work hard, we stay focussed, maybe we can do it next year -- and it's unbelievable how many people are on the street."

Flick has a contract until 2026, but will extend his deal in the coming days according to Barca vice-president Rafa Yuste.

Barcelona face Villarreal on Sunday in La Liga and Flick said that while he would rotate, players who had been out partying on Friday night may still be selected.

"We have to make some changes but we won't (decide) until tomorrow... I think yesterday evening they went out to have a little bit of a party.

"I always say 'Who can party, also can work', they can play, so for me it's not an excuse."

Villarreal are still looking to seal Champions League qualification next season, but Flick wants his team to stay unbeaten in the top flight in 2025. "We want to celebrate with our fans in the stadium and we want to end this season (feeling like) champions," added Flick.

"There are two matches to go and of course, we didn't lose any matches in La Liga this year, 2025, and it should be so until the end -- this is our goal."

Sunday's match may also be Barcelona's last game at their temporary Olympic stadium home, with Camp Nou set to reopen next season, albeit without a date set. REUTERS/AFP