Barcelona have lost their opening two group stage matches in a UEFA Champions League edition, for the first time since the competition started.
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Ronald Koeman admitted that he could be sacked as Barcelona boss in the post-match interview after their humiliating 3-0 loss to Benfica in the Champions League group stage fixture on Wednesday. The Spanish giants suffered their second successive 3-0 loss in the competition as they were demolished by Bayern Munich in their first group match. Meanwhile in the league also, Koeman’s side is struggling at sixth spot with three wins from six games, and are five points adrift leaders Real Madrid.
Asked if he felt he had backing at Barcelona, Koeman said: “I feel the players are behind me.” When enquired if he felt the board backed him too, he said: “I don’t know.”
Before the manager’s interview, Frenkie de Jong was asked if the answer to Barcelona’s woes was to sack Koeman. He replied: ‘No’, but players’ loyalty might not be enough for the 58-year-old coach.
During the entire match in Lisbon, Barcelona registered only one shot on target. Other than Luuk De Jong wasting a golden opportunity in front of a seemingly empty net, they couldn’t pose any major threat to the Benfica goal. Meanwhile, it was the first time that the Catalan club had lost it’s opening two group matches in the competition since the Champions League started.
“This is not the team of years gone by. It’s crystal clear,” added Koeman.
“The result is hard to take. I don’t think it’s a fair reflection. After conceding so early we responded well but we couldn’t score. They are very quick and strong. There are a lot of teams stronger than us.”
Asked why he took Gerard Pique off after 33 minutes he stated: “We were lucky that he didn’t show him a second yellow card. We could not afford that and Frenkie was able to give us that pressure. But if you can’t score it’s difficult.”
Gavi’s introduction was seen as an attacking change but the team’s formation remained 3-5-2 and shifting Frenkie made things worse.
De Jong added: “I still have faith that we can go through. We have to win our remaining games. We have lost the first two games.”
Barcelona still has enough quality to fight it out against the best. The midfield trio of De Jong, Sergio Busquets and Pedri were creating opportunities but the strikers don’t really have the same kind of quality as they used to have. Apart from Memphis Depay nobody looks like a threat going forward. Luuk de Jong who was struggling to get regular playing time at Sevilla is not someone you want to see as the main striker of Barcelona.
However, the return of Ansu Fati from a long injury layoff and the rise of youngsters like Gavi and Nico Gonzalez will hopefully make things better in the future.
Meanwhile off the field, Barcelona has been struggling with financial constraints and therefore the replacement of Koeman won’t be easy. The club would have to pay him around £10.4 million and because they are outside the limits of La Liga’s financial fair play they are subject to a special rule that means they can only bring in new players (or a new coach) for a quarter of the cost of those leaving.
There is leeway in the way these league rules are applied but it could mean that if Barcelona lost Koeman who earns around €8m, they would only be able to bring in a coach for around €2m. Barcelona will next play defending La Liga champions Atletico Madrid on Sunday and it’s going to be another tough assignment for Koeman’s side.
