Barcelona
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“We need a little air to clean our heads because everything we have experienced since December was very bad. This break will be good for us to forget everything that happened from January to here, which was very bad. A reflection that any Barcelona player would sign but that has special significance because it comes from the mouth of Leo Messi and makes special emphasis on the word «January», pointing without mentioning it to Quique Setién and the coaching staff that came alongside him. There was never a chemistry between the Argentine and the current coach, who replaced an Ernesto Valverde who left the leading team in the League and brilliantly qualified for the round of 16 as the first group one day before the group stage ended. Half a year later, Barcelona has lost the League showing a deplorable image and, according to the locker room leader, “this way we will not beat Napoli”, confirming his distrust of the Champions League.
Messi’s criticism has been so forceful that he has forced Josep Maria Bartomeu to call an emergency meeting with Quique Setién. With three weeks to go before the Champions League resumes, the president wants to touch first-hand on the mood of the dressing room and the coach, aware of the divorce between the two parties. Setién himself is aware that he is walking on the ledge of dismissal. So dangerously, he even doubts he can end the season. «I hope I can sit on the bench against Naples but I don’t know. I agree with Messi on some things. With self-criticism, “admitted the coach after losing to Osasuna at Camp Nou. However, Setién does not throw in the towel and yesterday he transmitted his strength to Bartomeu to fight for the Champions League. «I am the maximum responsible. I am empowered and energizedof course. I am convinced that we are going to be a different team. With a full-hearted attitude and that we will face the Champions with the maximum guarantees. Up to there I can control. The rest I cannot control. I have already experienced these situations. I get worn out in what I have to wear down ”, added the trainer.
Barça club sources explained to this newspaper that Bartomeu’s intention was to keep Setien and that he ruled out a dismissal that would demonstrate his own failure in choosing him to replace a Valverde who was endorsed by the results. However, these same sources admitted that anything could happen depending on the pressure that was being generated after the loss of the League and the image given since the competition resumed after the break due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, several managers have been in favor of promoting García Pimienta, coach of the subsidiary and who has gone through all the lower categories of the club, so that the season ends interim. However, Bartomeu has no room for maneuver, which is in the same scenario as last January, without being able to bring his first (Xavi) or his second (Koeman) option and with “Pimi” gaining promotion to Second A.
The technician, pointed
The divorce between Setién and the dressing room heavyweights is evidence that is evident in the hydration time during games. Footballers ignore the coaches, especially to Eder Sarabia, and in subsequent statements they are directly pointed out, as was the case with Luis Suárez after drawing in Balaídos. «There is something for the coaches, to analyze those kinds of situations. We give everything on the field and you have the feeling that outside the home we are losing many important points that we did not miss other seasons, “said the Uruguayan when asked about the fragility of the team away from the Camp Nou. Barça has Europe left to avoid closing a blank season, something that has not happened since 2008 when Frank Rijkaard’s cycle ended at Camp Nou with a clearly expired and decaying team.
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