Hansi Flick said Barcelona needed a break after Atletico Madrid inflicted their third straight home league defeat on Saturday to take them to the top of LaLiga.

Alexander Sørloth scored the 96th-minute winner at the Olympic Stadium after Rodrigo De Paul canceled out Pedri’s opener, helping Atlético come from behind to record a 12th consecutive win in all competitions.

Atlético’s form couldn’t be more in contrast to that of Barça, who have won just one of their last seven league games before the winter break in Spain.

“Now there is a break and I think everyone needs this break,” said Flick in the press conference after the game. “After the break we will train and show how strong we are.”

“Now we are all disappointed with this defeat because we played fantastically. Now we celebrate Christmas, start training on December 29th and focus on what we can do in the next half of the season.”

Barça were 10 points ahead of Atlético at the start of November, but Saturday’s defeat saw them fall three points behind Diego Simeone’s side, who also have a game in hand.

However, Flick felt his team’s performance had improved significantly compared to recent weeks, when they dropped points against Real Sociedad, Celta Vigo, Real Betis, Las Palmas and Leganés.

Pedri gave them a deserved lead against Atlético and only a combination of missed chances and brilliant goalkeeping from Jan Oblak prevented them from extending their lead.

“It was really unbelievable how we played,” added Flick. “That’s how I want to see my team. I am proud. It also shows that Atlético is an experienced team and they are just waiting and for them it is enough.”

“I think our style, how we want to play, has been really great, fantastic. It’s really disappointing that we don’t have anything in our hands (of the game), that’s the big disappointment.”

“I told the team that I really appreciated the way we played. Maybe we need to play smarter. We may have been punished for two mistakes, we need to learn about these things, but for me this is the right way.”

“The quality we played, the way we played… I think everyone in this room can see that. That is also the style with which Barça wants to play, how they want to dominate, but in the end it is the football and the team that will achieve more goal wins.”

Flick also played down the ceding of top spot to Atlético, while Real Madrid will also move past Barça if they beat Sevilla on Sunday.

“I know we played fantastically in the first three months of the season, but in the end we lost a lot of points and are now not top of the table,” he said.

“But in the end it’s still a good position to show you where you want to go. I’m not worried about that. The team is doing really well. Today they showed everyone how well they can play. From now on, that must be our standard.”

The German coach also paid special praise to Pedri, who, in addition to his goal, also delivered a brilliant performance against Atlético and created four great chances, which his teammates did not take advantage of.

“It’s really nice to see that he’s at this level now,” said Flick. “The way he played was fantastic, the goal was incredibly good. When you see him on the pitch now, he also trains the other players around him. That’s good. It’s the next step for him. He’s 22 years old and he’s on the right track.”