Barcelona president Joan Laporta held an emergency meeting with a number of club officials after the Blaugrana were beaten 0-3 by Benfica in the Champions League, Thursday (30/9). The emergency meeting was claimed to discuss the dismissal of coach Ronald Koeman.
The Barcelona board’s patience with Ronald Koeman seems to have run out. Joan Laporta and his friends want a change in the performance of the Catalan club without Koeman.
After landing from Lisbon, Laporta claimed to have immediately summoned his confidants such as vice president of sport Rafa Yuste, director of football Mateu Alemany, and presidential adviser Enric Masip to hold a meeting on the second floor of the Ciutat Esportiva.
Quoted from the US, an important agenda at the meeting was the dismissal of Ronald Koeman. The report said Koeman’s dismissal was imminent.
In the press conference after the match against Benfica, Koeman claimed he still had the support of the players. But he did not guarantee the support of Barcelona’s board.
Barcelona itself is said to be ready to face the risks of the decision, including paying the Dutch coach compensation of 12 million euros.
In addition to discussing the dismissal, Barcelona officials also discussed the potential replacement for Koeman. Names such as Xavi Hernandez, Roberto Martinez, Andrea Pirlo, to Frank Rijkaard entered as candidates to replace the former Everton coach.
Barcelona slumped in the Champions League this season. In two matches in Group E, the Blaugrana have always lost. Before being beaten by Benfica 0-3, Sergio Busquets and his friends humiliated by Bayern Munich 0-3 at Camp Nou.
The defeat to Benfica was Barcelona’s second in the last five matches in all competitions, with only one win.
In addition to the defeat to Benfica, which made Barcelona never win in the Champions League as well as being the bottom occupant of Group E, Barcelona also appeared unconvincing at the start of this season in the Spanish La Liga.
For the time being, Barcelona is ranked sixth in the local competition standings with 12 points from six matches with the breakdown of three wins and three draws.
Koeman began coaching Barcelona in August 2020 replacing Quique Setien.
Together with Koeman, Barcelona have gone through 62 matches with 37 wins, 12 draws and 13 defeats. In a period of one year and one month, Barcelona scored 133 goals and conceded 69 times.
Koeman brought the Copa del Rey title to Barcelona last season as well as breaking the fast of the title after being without a trophy in the 2019-2020 season.
At the beginning of this season Barcelona’s condition weakened because they had to release several players in order to reduce the salary burden to adjust the spending restrictions by La Liga.
Several mainstay players such as Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann were released by the club. In addition, several other players such as Junior Firpo, Jean-Clair Todibo, and Konrad de la Fuente were also sold.
