Koeman’s dream job at Barcelona becomes a nightmare after clasico loss has fans fuming
On his way out of Camp Nou on Sunday evening, Ronald Koeman got caught in traffic. It is normal at the biggest club stadium in Europe in the heart of a major city where 80,000-odd exit at the same time.
But the issue for Koeman, Barcelona’s manager, was not a gridlock of cars. It was the fans, on foot, crowding around his vehicle, up close and aggressive. Once the harassment began, there were some who just wanted to film the abuse on their phones.
Fists banged on Koeman’s car. Insults roared at him. What looked like spit landed on the windscreen. His wife was in the passenger seat. Eventually, the vehicle slowly eased away.
The next morning Barcelona issued a statement condemning the “violent” incidents. “The club will take security and disciplinary measures to make sure these regrettable events do not happen again,” it said.
Koeman’s Barca had lost 2-1 to Real Madrid, the fourth successive clasico defeat, and the third on Koeman’s watch. But this was different to the previous two because, for the first time in 14 months of the Dutchman’s reign, it was played out in front of a crowd close to capacity.
A clasico in front of a packed Camp Nou, with Koeman in the technical area, is a scenario he had been looking forward to for more than two decades. This is the management job Koeman had aspired to since retiring as the player whose finest moment was scoring the goal at Wembley in 1992 that won Barcelona a European Cup final for the first time with one of his trademark direct free-kicks.
It has been a roundabout journey to get there, via clubs in the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and the Premier League, where his time at Southampton and Everton was not always easy. Last year he gave up managing the Netherlands team to fulfil the long-term dream.
Koeman is not naive. He knew this was as hard a time as any this century to be working at debt-burdened Barcelona, and that coaches with better pedigree had been put off applying for a job that means dealing with diminishing resources.
Lionel Messi has left Camp Nou on Koeman’s watch, as have Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann.
To cover the departure of Griezmann, Koeman lobbied for the loan signing of Luuk de Jong, 31. The Dutch journeyman immediately became the focus of derision from some supporters because he is seen as a footballer without the stylish grace barcelonistas regard as obligatory – and because he is seen as Koeman’s man.
When De Jong came on in the clasico, he was booed. “I don’t like to hear that,” said Koeman, though he also praised the biggest crowd to have watched a Barcelona game since before the Covid pandemic.
“The public were phenomenal until the last second.” Once he was driving away from the stadium, Koeman experienced a different aspect of the public.
Being a club legend as a player grants limited credit once you become manager at the same club. This is a harsh time for some of those who have made that transition.
Since Koeman took up his job, he has seen Andrea Pirlo, the former Juventus player promoted with little experience
to the coaching role, hired and fired by Juve. He has seen Zinedine Zidane, European Cup-goalscoring hero for Real Madrid, step down for a second time at Bernabeu.
Even Hansi Flick, former Bayern Munich player and also brilliantly successful coach, quit his post at the club.
In Pirlo’s case, he was not ready for the managerial challenge. Zidane and Flick found that past achievements did not gain them the authority over club decisions that they
sought. Juventus, Bayern and Madrid have all beaten Koeman’s Barcelona in the past 12 months. So have Atletico and Paris Saint-Germain.
“We are getting closer to winning a big game,” said Koeman before he got into his car on Sunday.
He suspects that if he is still in charge for the next heavyweight fixture, it is largely because Barcelona cannot lure an elite replacement or afford the costs of firing one manager and hiring another.