Hansi Flick has a very special match coming up for him as Barcelona take on Bayern Munich this Wednesday in a blockbuster UEFA Champions League tie.
This game is not only important as it will see two European giants face off against one another but also because Bayern is the only club where Flick was the head coach before taking the job at Barcelona.
The German tactician still has friendly relations with some of the people associated with the Bavarian club, and one such individual is Lothar Matthaus.
As SPORT has reported, the latter wrote an article on Sky to analyze this upcoming tie between the two European giants.
Being a friend of Flick and being in frequent contact with him, Matthuas assures in this article that the Barcelona coach is not looking for revenge against Bayern in this upcoming game:
"Hansi and I don't talk on the phone every day, but we stay in touch. I'm convinced that Hansi is eagerly anticipating the match, without any desire for revenge. He had a great time in Munich, and without his success at FC Bayern, he wouldn't have ended up at Barcelona."
The German legend went on to highlight the similarities between Flick's Barcelona and Bayern teams: "The Barça DNA aligns with Flick's idea of play: dominance. That's how it was at Bayern Munich and with the national team. And it's the same at Barcelona."
The former midfielder went on to highlight some of the aspects of Flick's style that have helped him get such good results in this early phase of his Barcelona career:
"The advantage for Flick is that he can now work daily with the team and implement his playing philosophy in training. Hansi is someone who demands a lot from his players. He has a strong team, with experience and many young players that he truly enjoys working with."
"He doesn't need to show the players how to stop, pass, or shoot the ball. They already know that. As a coach, you have to connect with the players mentally and understand them."
"But it's not just Hansi who does this. Vincent Kompany and Xabi Alonso are also coaches who bring their players along with them. And Pep Guardiola, Ottmar Hitzfeld, and Udo Lattek also understood their players in this way."
Lastly, Lothar Matthaus also analyzed the upcoming game in some detail, and shared his prediction on its outcome:
"I was at Bayern's 4-0 victory against Stuttgart and saw Barça's 5-1 win against Sevilla. The approach is the same: a lot of ball possession, early pressing, high ball recovery. Both teams have very high quality and each has an experienced striker like Robert Lewandowski and Harry Kane."
"Both teams have had problems recently after losing the ball and getting past the first line of pressing. Bayern's remaining defense functioned much better against Stuttgart than in previous matches. It will depend on who makes fewer mistakes. A lot of things point to a draw; I hope it's 2-2 instead of 0-0."
Although Lothar Matthaus has assured that Flick is not looking for revenge, the fact that the Barcelona coach will be facing his former club will still give this tie an extra flavor. Thus, this game is already shaping up to be a memorable one for the potential spectators, and both sets of fans will have their fingers crossed for their teams.