Flick: Barca defying expectations with treble fight

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said Saturday that at the start of his reign nobody expected the Catalan giants would be fighting for three trophies in March.

The German coach replaced Xavi Hernandez last summer after a disappointing campaign where Barcelona finished without silverware.

Flick's side lead La Liga on goal difference ahead of champions Real Madrid, are in the Copa del Rey semi-finals against Atletico and will face Benfica in the Champions League last 16.

It leaves Barca with a packed schedule in the weeks ahead, starting with the visit of Real Sociedad in La Liga on Sunday, but Flick said he had no complaints.

"The team is doing really great, they are focussed, no excuses, just focus on the next match," said the coach.

"It's not easy to manage everything, we have to accept it... we'll give everything.

"We have three competitions, we will fight for three trophies and when we started the season, nobody expected it would be like that on the first of March, but the team is doing great."

Flick said he would shuffle his pack against La Real ahead of the visit to Lisbon on Wednesday in the Champions League.

"We need fresh legs and tomorrow is also a good day to (do) this and we will have changes, but I will not say which changes we do," said the coach.

Flick said Danish defender Andreas Christensen had suffered a new injury setback.

The 28-year-old last played for the club in August before an Achilles injury ruled him out for several months.

After returning he suffered a calf injury and although he was set to return to the squad against Real Sociedad, Flick said that was no longer possible.

"We have Andreas and what I can say now is he got injured in this training session, so he was an option for tomorrow, but again he was injured," said Flick.

"We are looking now how heavy is the injury, hopefully it's not so (bad)."