Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has set a top eight target for qualification into the UEFA Champions League knockout phase, Afrosport reports.
The newly-introduced league phase format will see teams who finish in the top eight of the 36-team log automatically progress to the round of 16 while teams placed ninth to 24th will face each other in a two-legged playoff to determine the other eight teams.
Barca currently sit in 15th place with just three points from three games which makes their qualification prospect more difficult ahead of their trip to Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday.
“What I said before it’s important now to win. After the match against Bayern Munich it changed a lot so… I am not sure which position we are in the table because we are just starting,” Flick said.
“For me it’s important that we finish the eight matches, that in January we are in front, not the first, it could be, but first eight I think it’s a goal we can reach and want to reach.”
When asked about if he dreams of winning the Champions League, Flick said: “I think it would be a lot of work till that. And I also know that there are lot of really fantastic teams that have the same idea at the end of the Champions League.
“I think it’s better to work hard than to speak about that. This is how we wan to handle it. We work and we go by every match focused on what we want to do…”
Flick’s Barca are enjoying a good run of form in La Liga where they top the table, nine points clear of fierce rivals Real Madrid.
