Yahoo Sports Barcelona defender punished by Hansi Flick three times for his tardiness
Jules Kounde has been thriving for Barcelona this season as the first-choice right-back, with his game improving under the tutelage of Hansi Flick.
The 26-year-old Frenchman is one of the first names on the teamsheet when fit and available and is one of the players who have been used the most this term by the German tactician.
However, there have been a couple of occasions that Kounde has been left out of the starting XI by the manager in La Liga and as it turns out, that decision may have been due to disciplinary reasons.
Kounde punished for his tardiness
Indeed, according to Javi Miguel of AS, Kounde has been on the receiving end of a reprimand from Hansi Flick on multiple occasions since the summer due to his tardiness.
The French defender is so far the only player who has been punished by the Barcelona coach – leading to him being left out of the starting lineup on three occasions, and all for the same reason: arriving a few minutes late to the pre-match tactics talk.
The first time it happened was during pre-season when Kounde appeared four minutes late, to the surprise of Flick, who gave him a brief and forceful, “You are not starting today”, in front of his teammates.
That was not the end of it, though, as Kounde was two minutes late for the scheduled team talk before the game against Alaves in La Liga in October.
The report states that Flick stared at him with a very serious expression, reminding him that “being late, even a minute, is a sign of disrespect for your teammates.”
Kounde tried to explain the reason for the delay, but the German told him: “You know what it is.” And that was the first time that the Frenchman was benched this season in an official match.
More recently, the 26-year-old ace experienced a similar treatment when Flick decided to leave him out of the starting XI for the all-important Catalan derby against RCD Espanyol after he was late for a team meeting by just one minute.
The message from the manager was: “When I say 1:30 pm, it’s not 1:29 pm or 1:31 pm either.”
As mentioned earlier, so far, except for Kounde, no other player has had to suffer Flick’s punishment for being late. Hopefully, the Frenchman will avoid similar situations in the future.
