Familiar faces for Hansi Flick

Hansi Flick takes his first job outside of his native Germany in joining Barça but not everything will be brand new to the blaugrana coach. The manager already knows Robert Lewandowski having spent almost two years coaching the Polish striker during their time at Bayern Munich. Furthermore, Flick also coached to Marc-André ter Stegen and Ilkay Gündoğan during his spell as German national team boss.  

Of the three players, Lewandowski is the one that the new Barça boss knows best. From November 2019 to the summer of 2021 Flick was first team coach at Bayern Munich with the Polish striker a key figure in his team.  

The best Lewandowski with Flick  

In the 2019/20 season, Flick coached Bayern in 32 matches with Lewandowski in the starting XI on 28 occasions, playing all 90 minutes in 27. The German team’s first goal under Hansi Flick was scored by Lewandowski against Greek side Olympiacos. In total The Pole scored 30 goals in the league as Bayern took the treble as well as top scoring with 15 in the Champions League.  

The following season, Flick’s first complete campaign as coach, Lewandowski continued to be key. The striker started 30 of Bayern’s 48 matches, however, he missed the Champions League defeat at the hands of PSG in the quarter-finals. Despite injuries, Lewandowski still managed to score an amazing 48 goals in 30 matches.  

In 2020/21 Lewandowski was named Best Player in Europe and The Best for the second time in a year in which the Ballon d’Or was not awarded. Of his 48 goals, 41 came in the Bundesliga, beating Gerd Müller’s record of 40 which had stood since the 1971/72 season.  

Ter Stegen: 10 games under Flick  

The link between Ter Stegen, Gündoğan and Hansi Flick is the German national team. The goalkeeper made 10 appearances under the new Barça boss, all of them as a starter, the first coming in a 2-1 win over Romania in October 2021. 

Gündoğan key figure  

Ilkay Gündoğan made 19 appearances for Germany under Hansi Flick, 16 as a starter with 9 wins, 6 draws and 4 defeats in those matches. The midfielder scored six goals in that  time, including the team’s opening goal in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.