Boost for Barcelona coach Hansi Flick ahead of Champions League opener at Newcastle

By Canadian Press on September 12, 2025.

NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Barcelona coach Hansi Flick will be in the dugout for his team’s Champions League opening game at Newcastle next week after UEFA eased his punishment for misconduct on Friday.

Flick and his assistant Marcus Sorg had been given one-match bans for “violating the basic rules of decent conduct” at Barcelona’s semifinal elimination against Inter Milan last season.

Barcelona lost a wild game 4-3 after extra time at San Siro to exit 7-6 on aggregate score.

Those sanctions were deferred Friday for one-year probationary periods on appeals to UEFA.

Barcelona has its first league phase game at Newcastle on Thursday.

UEFA said fines of 20,000 euros ($23,450) each for Flick and Sorg were confirmed by its appeals body.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

The Associated Press