Hansi Flick reveals Gavi refused to come on as Barcelona substitute in 7-1 rout of Valencia as he hails 'fantastic' gesture from star midfielder

Barcelona crossed the 100 goals tally in the 2024-25 campaign on Sunday as they blasted seven past Valencia to register a thumping win in La Liga. Fermin Lopez scored a brace, while Frenkie De Jong, Raphinha, Ferran Torres and Robert Lewandowski were also on target, as the Catalan giants reduced the gap to second-placed Atletico Madrid to three points.

Gavi, who has started in just four La Liga games since coming back from his ACL injury, was once again kept on the bench by manager Hansi Flick. The German coach was planning to introduce the midfielder in the final 15 minutes of the match, however, the Spain international refused to come on and instead recommended Pablo Torre, who has clocked only 373 minutes on the pitch this season.

Praising the 20-year-old's gesture, the German manager told reporters after the match: "The situation I'm most impressed with is when I spoke with Gavi. Normally I bring him on with 15 minutes to go and he said no, bring Pablo Torre in. You can see the team how they are connected. It's fantastic to see as a coach. I love Gavi for this. You know he wants to play every match and to say this in this situation, it's top."

The Catalan side will be back in action on Wednesday as they take on Atalanta in their final league phase game of the Champions League at home.