“Flick football makes them look way better than they are”, “Overrated player”

Fans have ripped into Barcelona duo Ferran Torres and Fermin Lopez for their performance in the LaLiga clash against Elche on Saturday. Many were particularly critical of the pair’s wasted chances despite Barcelona running out 3-1 winners away from home.

Eager to extend their lead at the top of the table, Hansi Flick’s side dictated proceedings from the start and took the lead after six minutes through Lamine Yamal.

Yamal’s strike was, however, cancelled out by an Alvaro Rodriguez equalizer just before the half-hour mark. Mercurial forward Torres restored Barcelona’s advantage before the break.

Elche came out strongly in the second half but couldn’t create meaningful chances. The hosts’ hopes of equalizing a second time were dashed when Marcus Rashford added a third in the 72nd minute to seal Barca’s 11th win in their last 12 league games.

While the Blaugrana faithful would be happy to have gotten all three points, a section of the fanbase was unimpressed with the overall display of Ferran and Lopez.

Ferran, who played for 62 minutes, missed three big chances, most notably a 1v1 situation while both teams were tied at 1-1 in the 32nd minute. Similarly, Lopez missed two big chances, with his most notable miss coming ten minutes later. After the match, fans took to X to slam both players, with one writing:

“I pity the club that will sign Fermin or Ferran Torres. Flick football is “ everyone eats “ those two can’t play outside Spain and Barca, I promise you. Flick football makes them look way better than they are; look at Rashford looking like a quality player.”

Another tweeted:

“Fermin has been terrible. such an overrated player.”

A third added:

“Fermin and Ferran competing to see who misses more chances.”

One remarked:

“Lamine should have walked off that pitch with at least 3 assists or 3 goals. He was extremely selfless today. Ferran and Fermin just couldn’t convert.”

“Fermin inconsistent? It’s Ferran who is inconsistent,” one chimed in.

“We want to keep playing like this” – Hansi Flick on Barcelona’s 3-1 victory over Elche

Flick was happy after his Barcelona side secured a commanding win over Elche and extended their lead at the top of the table. The German praised his players for their performances, saying they need to continue playing like that.

He told reporters after the game:

“An important win, and I think we put on a very good match. In the end, we missed some chances, and that’s a bit annoying, but overall I’m happy,” Flick. I think that we played a really great game, almost perfect… except in the last 3 meters.

“We were going through the spaces they left us very easily. We were creating a lot of chances and I want to congratulate my team for the performance. We want to keep playing like this, we’re confident. We deserve the three points today. We’ve generated a lot of chances and we should have scored more goals. It would be easier to manage the minutes.”

The result means Barcelona now hold a four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, though Los Blancos have played one game fewer.