Barcelona is in a prime position to realize Hansi Flick’s goal of winning La Liga at the end of 2024 and leading the league at the start of 2025.

In midweek, the Catalan team secured their place in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 with an exciting 3-2 comeback triumph.

Flick’s astute replacement of Ferran Torres for Robert Lewandowski in the closing 20 minutes of the match capped this victory in Dortmund. Torres had a big influence, scoring two goals in the closing minutes to seal the victory.

Under Flick’s tutelage, Lewandowski has been nothing short of spectacular this season, leading the Champions League list with seven goals and dominating the La Liga scoring statistics with sixteen.

To reduce the chance of injury and make sure the seasoned Polish striker starts strong in 2025, Flick should think about rotating him as the end of 2024 draws near.

Lewandowski is 36 years old, but his level of fitness is still amazing because he hasn’t missed a club game this season because of an injury.

Marca’s statistics show that the striker has played in all six Champions League games and started 16 of Barcelona’s 17 La Liga games, coming off the bench just once.

His schedule hasn’t allowed him much time to relax, which worries Flick as he attempts to successfully manage the last few months of 2024.

Remarkably, Lewandowski has only played 90 minutes in 10 of those games. This is because Flick tries to protect his best player in the closing minutes of games, especially when Barcelona is up by a significant margin.

Barcelona has only won once in their last five league games, indicating their current struggles. Flick will be suspended from the field for the next two games in December against Leganes and Atletico Madrid since the championship race is now down to only two points.

Given these conditions and the fact that there is no league activity planned between December 22 and January 19, it appears likely that Torres might go in to give Lewandowski some much-needed rest in one of those games.