(Madrid) Ronald Koeman sacked, the site remains intact: FC Barcelona, mired in a serious sporting and economic crisis, thanked his Dutch coach on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, who leaves behind a young team, but without benchmarks and adrift.
It was the defeat too many: three days after the scathing setback at Camp Nou during the Liga clasico against the eternal rival, Real Madrid (2-1), the 1-0 defeat on the ground of a promoted , the Rayo Vallecano, ended up condemning Koeman.
Heckled by supporters on Sunday when he left the stadium, the Dutch technician had received the support of his club … just like in September, when President Joan Laporta appeared in front of the media to say that Barça still relied on the former coach From the Netherlands.
If at first, the Catalan press had reported that his future would not be called into question after the defeat in the suburbs of Madrid, the leaders of the club blaugrana met directly in the offices of the club after having landed in Barcelona, and have ended up deciding to oust the technician.
At a press conference after the loss to Rayo, Koeman was asked whether this loss would condition his future. His answer, laconic: “I do not know”.
Too huge building site
Koeman ended up paying for his team’s poor results: Barca have been unable to win an away game since the start of the season, haven’t scored a goal outside Camp Nou since August, point to a disappointing 9e place of Liga …
And above all, the Catalan club has chained the disappointments in the Champions League, where he suffered two slaps, first against Bayern Munich at Camp Nou (3-0), then in Lisbon against Benfica (3-0), who ended up jeopardizing his chances of qualifying for the 8es final, which would be a huge and new blow of the club.
Was the site too huge for the former Blaugrana player, who offered his first C1 title to Barça in 1992 against Sampdoria on a free kick?
Optimistic, Koeman had accepted the challenge, seeing it as a challenge to take up, in the right line of Johan Cruyff, his former compatriot of coach at Barça, who ended up acquiring the status of legend.
Hired in the summer of 2020 to replace Quique Setién to straighten out an already adrift Barça, Koeman finally experienced only failure, or almost. At the head of Barça, he won only one Spanish Cup last season.
Apart from this trophy, Koeman will have been the coach who lived the departure of the icon Lionel Messi at Paris Saint-Germain, then went through a year without the prodigy Ansu Fati, away from the field for a year after a fracture of the knee meniscus. left in November 2020.
Who will take over?
The Catalan club did not communicate on the name of Koeman’s replacement, but a few names had already been put forward in the press in September, when the Dutchman had already come close to leaving.
On the front line: Xavi Hernandez. The former Camp Nou glory, now on the bench of Al Sadd in Qatar, has repeatedly claimed he is ready to accept a coaching position at Barca, and appears to be the favorite candidate to take over … Although he supported another list than that of President Laporta in the election for the club’s presidency in March.
But other names have also been cited by the press, like the Italian Andrea Pirlo, free since his ouster from Juventus Turin at the end of May, or the Spanish coach of Belgium Roberto Martinez. In the meantime, the interim could be provided by Sergi Barjuan, the current coach of Barça’s reserve team.