The question was obvious, so a reporter asked it. Barcelona had just come from behind in Istanbul to beat Galatasaray 4-1, extending a winning run to ten games. Were they unstoppable? Hansi Flick did not take the bait. “Football can change very fast,” he said. “Our ambitions are more; we want to win titles. We can win nothing now.”
Then he added the line that tells you what kind of coach he is. “In May, June you win the big titles. We are working every day for that.”
Three days later, Barcelona won 5-2 at Real Betis, taking eleven wins from eleven. Only one side in La Liga history, Real Madrid in 1968-69, has started a league season with nine straight victories. Barcelona are now the second. On Tuesday they play the champions in Paris. This is how a team that supposedly couldn’t score without a recognised striker ended up with Europe’s best attack.
The striker nobody signed
Preseason doubts centred on one obvious question. Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres both left in the summer, and Barcelona didn’t buy a number nine to replace them, but just before the transfer deadline they signed Gabriel Jesus from Arsenal. Expectations were that the goals would dry up.
They have done the opposite. Before the Betis game, Barcelona had 43 goals in all competitions, and seven different players had scored more than once, which isn’t the profile of a team relying on one finisher, but of a team where goals come from everywhere, at every speed, through every kind of move. Nobody saw that coming.
The key figure is Lamine Yamal. He has eight goals and nine assists in his first ten club games of the season, according to ESPN, and then scored and assisted against Betis. He is still just 19 and is also the second favourite for the Ballon d’Or, a story we cover separately soon.
Up front, Gabriel Jesus has done what Flick expected. After the Galatasaray game, the coach was asked about him and gave a pointed answer. “He’s at a top level, but I think he’ll be even better; I’m happy with him, and I value him.” Karim Adeyemi, who scored the fourth in Istanbul, got a more direct compliment. “He’s very fast, good with the ball, and can score goals; I’m very happy he scored.”
Istanbul: how a bad half became a good night
For 43 minutes, Galatasaray had the upper hand. Aleksey Batrakov put the hosts ahead in the 28th minute. Barcelona equalised just before the break through João Cancelo, and then played the second half as if it was a different match.
Fermín López scored in the 50th minute from a cross by Yamal. Anthony Gordon, making his first Champions League start, scored in the 53rd minute after Yamal created the chance with a piece of skill. Adeyemi finished into the bottom corner in the 65th minute. Yamal did not score but was named man of the match, and Goal credited him with involvement in all four goals.
Flick’s explanation was simple. “We adapt in the half time a little and the second half was great,” he said. Of Yamal: “Lamine didn’t score today, but he did provide the final pass for two goals and played excellently.”
He was also honest about the first half. “Decision-making in the final third and transitions were not the best,” he admitted, “but we know [Galatasaray] are very good, especially in this atmosphere.” At the interval, he told the players he appreciated their first-half performance, but that they had given the ball away too often in the final third.
That honesty is typical of Flick as he praises his team in public and picks them apart in the dressing room.
Comeback in hell. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/LkM6Qusjoc
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 13, 2026
The high line, and the man it stopped
If you want one tactical idea to explain Barcelona, it is the offside trap. Flick’s side defends with a very high line. They squeeze the pitch, push their centre-backs up together, and ask the opposition to run into space that isn’t there.
The Galatasaray game was the season’s best example. Victor Osimhen, one of Europe’s most dangerous runners, was flagged offside six times. You might also remember how Mbappé kept running offside last year against Barca. He attempted three passes and completed two, won three of nine duels, had 12 touches, lost possession six times, and took one shot that missed the target. Barca Universal’s analysis put it simply: Barcelona “contained Osimhen to perfection”.
The centre-backs moved together and stayed coordinated, which sounds trivial but isn’t, because a high line against a forward that fast is a bet where one defender’s mistimed step leaves the goalkeeper alone with a runner and a hundred thousand people holding their breath.
The same article noted a caveat. Barcelona have struggled to keep clean sheets, especially in the Champions League. They conceded to Galatasaray from their only real chance, and they let Betis score twice on Saturday. The trap is also risky, and Europe’s better teams know how to exploit it.
Saturday showed the other side. Betis led through Valentín Gómez’s header in the 27th minute and pulled one back through Abde Ezzalzouli two minutes after Barcelona made it 3-1. Then Facundo Bernal was sent off for trying to headbutt Yamal, and the gap opened. Betis lost the game after the red card.
The captain’s thigh
The big absence has been Raphinha. He missed the Getafe game, the Galatasaray game, and the start at Betis with a thigh problem, diagnosed as oedema, not a tear. Flick has been careful, but the coach gave him a few minutes against Betis.
“It’s not an injury, but we have to be careful because he had three injuries last year, so we need to look after him,” he said before the Galatasaray trip. At the Friday press conference before Betis, he added: “If you ask him, he’ll tell you that he’s ready, but for me, we have to take it step by step.”
Raphinha came on after 69 minutes at La Cartuja for Yamal and played 21 minutes. Frenkie de Jong is back in full training after a medial ligament injury. Andreas Christensen is still out.
Perfect record intact. 💯 pic.twitter.com/ahG2157NSl
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 17, 2026
The Tuesday problem
The schedule is brutal: Betis on Saturday, Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, then a Clásico at home to Real Madrid on Sunday 25 October, according to ESPN. Flick has said he wants to win titles in May and June, and the next seven days will test whether his squad can survive October with its legs, its captain and its perfect record intact.
PSG are the best opposition Barcelona have faced all season. They have won five in a row, they scored four at Manchester City, and they have a striker who used to wear a Barcelona shirt. In Paris, a side with a perfect record meets the holders, who have not lost since Monaco in early September, and the loser of that argument will spend the week before the Clásico explaining itself.
Dembélé said it himself after the City game. “In six days’ time we have another big match against FC Barcelona, who have the same number of points as us.”
One thing is for sure: we cannot wait for the match between the two this Tuesday.
Sources
- Flick’s post-match quotes and the Torres/Lewandowski context: ESPN, “Flick urges caution as Barcelona extend perfect start with Champions League win”.
- Flick on the half-time talk, Yamal, Adeyemi and Gabriel Jesus: Yahoo Sports / Barca Universal.
- Barcelona’s 43 goals, Yamal’s numbers and the schedule: Goal, “Unstoppable Barcelona? Hansi Flick fires ‘can win nothing’ warning”.
- The Osimhen offside-trap analysis: Barca Universal, “This is how Barcelona neutralised Galatasaray’s most dangerous attacking threat”.
- Galatasaray 1-4 Barcelona scorers: ESPN match report.
- Raphinha’s injury and Flick’s comments: Legit.ng and Tribuna.
- Dembélé’s comment on the points: PSG.fr.
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