Hansi Flick celebrated Iñigo Martínez’s incredible stoppage-time tackle as if it was a goal as Barcelona took another step towards the LaLiga title with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Leganés on Saturday.
Martínez’s challenge on the edge of the box prevented Munir El Haddadi from equalising in the 92nd minute after Jorge Sáenz’s own goal had earlier given Barça the lead at Butarque.
The win extended Barça’s unbeaten run to 24 games in all competitions and temporarily moved the LaLiga leaders seven points clear of Real Madrid, who play Alavés on Sunday.
“For me, the best situation [was] not only the goal, but the last save from Iñigo was unbelievable,” Barça coach Flick said in the post-game news conference.
“I celebrated it like a goal. Everyone celebrated it as a goal. It’s part of the game and, again, another clean sheet. It’s the perfect match here.
“Three points are three points. It’s fantastic. I am really happy and very proud of my team.”
Barça were far from their best against Leganés, who nearly took the lead early on when Adrià Altimira drew a smart save from Wojciech Szczęsny.
The only goal of the game came early in the second half, when Sáenz turned home Raphinha’s cross.
Leganés pushed for an equaliser late on, but Barça dug in and Flick was especially pleased with how his team battled in what was their sixth game in 16 days since the international break.
“Today, how we fight for 94, 95 minutes, it was unbelievable,” the German added.
“When you see the load the players have in the last couple of weeks, after the international break … what they did [in those games], the performances, it’s unbelievable.”
The win was tempered by losing left-back Alejandro Balde to injury in the first half.
Flick said the Spain defender would undergo tests on Sunday to determine the severity of the knock.
Barça return to action on Tuesday in the Champions League away at Borussia Dortmund. They travel to Germany with a 4-0 lead from the first leg of the quarterfinal tie.
The Blaugrana then have back-to-back home games in LaLiga against Celta Vigo and Mallorca, before a showdown with Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey on April 26 in Seville.
“Now, we focus on recovery,” Flick said. “I think the word I use most is recovery, recovery, recovery.
“We will arrive back in the night in Barcelona, then [on Sunday] we recover and train with the other guys who didn’t have so many minutes.
“And on Monday we fly to Dortmund. It’s like that. We have no excuses. We focus on our job. The team is fantastic again, absolutely fantastic.”
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