Barça name Sergi Barjuan caretaker coach
BARCELONA, SPAIN (AP):
WITH THEIR coffers depleted and a critical UEFA Champions League match right around the corner, Barcelona were looking for a new coach yesterday after they named a caretaker coach following the firing of Ronald Koeman.
The Spanish club said that reserve team coach Sergi Barjuan will temporarily lead the squad until it finds a permanent replacement for Koeman. Barjuan, like Koeman, is a former Barcelona defender. The club said that he will be in the dugout for their LaLiga match against Alavés tomorrow.
Former midfielder Xavi Hernández, who for years has been linked to a return to the club he helped lift to its greatest heights as a player, appears to be the leading candidate to take over on a full-time basis. First, however, the 41-yearold Xavi would have to free himself from his job coaching Qatari club Al-Sadd.
Xavi turned down the chance to coach Barcelona in January 2020 when former president Josep Bartomeu, who resigned amid scandals one year ago, offered him the post after firing Ernesto Valverde in the middle of the season.
“When they offered me (the job), I had barely been coaching for three months,” Xavi said last week. “But now it is different. I have more experience, and I am learning a lot here (with Al-Sadd).”
Next week, Barcelona face a trip to Ukraine to play Dynamo Kyiv in a match they will need to win to boost their chances of continuing their two-decades long run of reaching the Champions League knockout rounds.
Koeman had justified defeats to Bayern Munich, Benfica, Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid this season by arguing that his team was simply no longer among Europe’s elite after its financial troubles forced it to shed the wages of Lionel Messi and other top talents. He also insisted that injuries among his attacking players had limited its effectiveness. Less than a month ago, club president Joan Laporta had publicly backed Koeman, asking fans to be patient as the team undergoes a rebuilding project.
But Koeman’s credit ran out after their 1-0 defeat at Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday, a modest rival that had not beaten Barcelona since 2002. Barcelona, the dominant Spanish league team over the past two decades, are in ninth place in the standings.