Hansi Flick is stuck in 2014 Pinroll and Air Max 95 Neon, straight out of a Sneaker Freaker coffee table book

Hansi Flick seems encapsulated in 2014: not in the way he has his Blaugrana side playing, but when it comes to his touchline style—that really has stood the test of time. On the latest La Liga matchday, perhaps precisely because the Spanish league had declared a retro-themed round, Flick felt personally called upon: how do you go back in time? If even the referees take to the pitch in almost-forgotten kits and match results appear on retro-designed scoreboards, how do you make it clear that you’re part of that same wave of nostalgia? The answer: stage a 2014 sneakerhead cosplay, the kind of look worn by someone who, more than a decade ago, would have posted in a Facebook buy-and-sell group an ad like "WTB Air Max 1 size US10".

Skinny jeans with a pinroll and Nike Air Max 95 Neon, replacing his usual Air Jordan 1 Low or his classic Autry: an outfit that, at a glance, took us straight back twelve years, to an era dominated by the trend of pairing any Air Max model with ultra-tight denim, finished with meticulously rolled pinrolls. A trend that, to be fair, still survives today—albeit in a more niche form—kept alive mainly by sneaker communities, especially Air Max enthusiasts, who continue to discuss, buy, and compare within Facebook groups. For younger audiences, to better contextualize: before the impact of Virgil Abloh with Nike’s The Ten and the arrival of Yeezy with adidas—which were initially styled with skinny jeans but later introduced baggier silhouettes with Yeezy Season—every sneakerhead dressed exactly like Hansi Flick did during the derby against Espanyol.

And so, speaking of highly talented and influential coaches on the European stage, while Alvaro Arbeloa sits on the Real Madrid bench wearing Louis Vuitton formalwear created by the club’s official partner, and while Pep Guardiola rewrites the rules of the game by bringing Our Legacy onto the touchline for the first time, and Vincent Kompany changes three outfits in 90 minutes, Hansi Flick goes in a completely different direction—a choice that we wouldn’t even know whether to call safe or bold.