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Barça dismiss Ronald Koeman and call Xavi to re-float the project

BarcelonaThe Barça expedition returned from Vallecas with a feeling of deep discomfort after suffering another defeat, the second in a row, and continuing without winning away from home in the League. All eyes were on the increasingly questioned coach Ronald Koeman. Who more or less sniffed that he had his hours numbered. The news was confirmed at midnight: Barça have dismissed the Dutchman. Exactly one year after the resignation of Josep Maria Bartomeu.

The game lost at Rayo Vallecano, the second consecutive defeat after losing the classic on Sunday, has been the last straw for President Joan Laporta’s patience. According to the club in an official letter, Laporta himself communicated the decision to Koeman in Madrid. Subsequently, the coach has had time to say goodbye to the players on the return plane. This Thursday he will no longer be in post-match training at the Sports City. The team will start preparing for the match against Alabès at 5pm (Saturday at 9pm).

Sense margin

Koeman, who had already saved his head by the hair before Wanda, had asked for a little more time to regain cash and have a more competitive squad. But not like that. Barça have already played 10 league games and have only been able to win half the points (15 out of 30). He does not know what it is to win at home and, in Europe, he must win both yes and no to Dynamo Kiev and Benfica to avoid falling in the Europa League.

The coach had maintained so far that the problem “is not about play, but about effectiveness”, and had repeated on several occasions that he was seen with a heart to turn the position upside down. “I can’t complain about the team. It was difficult for us to get into the game because Rayo put a lot of pressure, but then we were superior. Seeing the opportunities we had and theirs, I think the result is not fair. It’s amazing that we have Lost”. Koeman insisted the defeat “is neither by attitude nor by game”: “It’s a matter of not scoring, I can’t say anything else.”

Xavi, pending separation from Al-Sadd

Koeman’s replacement will be, if there is no setback, Xavi Hernández. The Catalan coach, who has just won the Emir’s Cup with Al-Sadd, will leave the adventure in Qatar to return to Barça six years after stepping down as a footballer. He will not tear the contract he has with the country for the World Cup, but he will break away from the club he has been coaching for two seasons (with seven titles in the basket) to try to help the Barça team from the bench. His candidacy was already on the table at the end of last season, when Laporta lost faith in Koeman due to the terrible outcome of the League, but between the lack of internal consensus and the lack of economic muscle for the ‘The dismissal of the Dutchman opted for continuity before the sports project experienced the biggest earthquake in years due to the unexpected departure of Messi.

Among those who doubted Xavi was Laporta himself. Unlike most of his executives, the president believed that the Vallès man should go through the branch before being promoted, as Guardiola and Luis Enrique did in their day. Now, however, he has had no choice but to listen to many of his collaborators to make a decision that most Barcelonans see with good eyes. Because Xavi, apart from knowing the club and being a promising coach who trusts in the position game, is an idol of the fans who will open an immense umbrella of confidence in the face of the firm possibility that the season will end without titles. In fact, although he knows that he is returning to the club in a framework of multisectoral crisis, the Vallès native is keen to revive a team in which five of his former teammates survive: Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto, Jordi Alba and Marc-André ter Stegen. He also hopes to get the best youth juice from the level of Pedri González, Ansu Fati, Pablo Gavi and Riqui Puig. Another thing is that then, when it comes to the truth, he manages to translate good intentions into better results than Koeman’s.

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