Barjuan interim Barcelona coach after Koeman’s exit
BARCELONA: With its coffers depleted and a critical Champions League match right around the corner, Barcelona were looking for a new coach on Thursday 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 they find a permanent replacement for Koeman. Barjuan is a former Barcelona defender. The club said that he will be in the dugout for Saturday’s Spanish league match against Alaves.
Former midfielder Xavi Hernandez, 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-year-old 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-decade long run of reaching the Champions League knockouts.
Koeman had justified defeats to Bayern Munich, Benfica, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid this season by arguing that his team was simply no longer among Europe’s elite after their financial troubles forced them 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 Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat at Rayo Vallecano, 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.
Koeman, a former defender, took over Barcelona when their economic crisis was just being felt following a devastating 8-2 loss to Bayern at the end of the 2019-20 season that cost predecessor Quique Setien his job. The Dutchman was remembered as a fan favourite for his winning goal in the 1992 European Cup final.