Ronald Koeman: “The situation of Xavi’s Barça is the same as mine”

He decided to express himself once more. Ronald Koeman was dismissed from FC Barcelona and, in his place, Xavi Hernández took over as the new coach of the Blaugrana team. Speaking to the press at the ‘Koeman Cup’ charity golf tournament, the Dutch coach requested “maximum support” for Xavi and did not hesitate to refer to Joan Laporta.

“It is true that the situation of Xavi’s Barça is the same as mine. He wants to say that changing a coach is not always something to improve. The only thing I ask is support for Xavi, because no coach is the only one to blame. I did not have the full support of the president, I hope he has learned from this and does support XaviKoeman assured.

Koeman was critical of the way Laporta handled his exit. “I didn’t like that the president said ‘off the record’ that he didn’t know if he was going to continue or not, that there were doubts, and that’s not good or what a coach needs. Even if they kick you out, on the inside you have to talk about everything but on the outside you have to defend the coach, because if you don’t train, it’s even more complicated”, acknowledged the Dutchman, who suffered in that period of time when his position was in doubt.

“I hope that the president knows the situation of the club, which is sad and it hurts me because I am a culé. I’m still living in Barcelona, ​​I’ll be the coach of the Netherlands from January and I ask for maximum support from Xavi, because he is a legend, a very good coach and from the house, and little to blame for Barça being in this situation”, Koeman reiterated in this regard.

And, with Xavi, he recognized that the team has improved “in some things”, but for having signed. “It is not good to compare, when I left Barça was 8 points behind Madrid and now they are almost double. It is not good to compare. Generally, Xavi’s job is just as complicated as the one I had, due to the situation at the club”, defended the one from Terrassa.

“If they lose the last games at home, it’s for something. We also lost. It is the reality of Barça and we have to accept it, and we have to support the team because Barça needs time to return to what it has been. I ask for calm, you have to think long term and give confidence and support to the coach”, he repeated.

He does not consider that he failed as DT culé

Likewise, he made a positive assessment of his time as Blaugrana coach, with a Copa del Rey won in a season and a half. “I don’t feel like a coach who has failed, far from it. We failed in Granada in LaLiga, but we stayed with a Cup title, and if you win something it’s not a failure”, he stated.

“I have defended the club every day, accepting departures from players for the good of the club… There will be things that I might have to change, we are human, and I had mistakes as a coach, like any coach except Pep Guardiola, who is the only that does everything right”, he assured, sincere.

He also asked that he not be attacked for having changed the so-called ‘Barça DNA’. “You can’t blame a coach for losing the Barça DNA because there are many ways to win. We won the Cup with great football. There is no clear system today and it depends on the players you have. And it is true that today Barça cannot sign the best players in the world and that distances you from the best, like City or Liverpool today“, warning.

The summary of his year and a half

On a personal level, he believes that he is still loved in Barcelona, ​​where he continues to live. “There are people who criticize and it is normal. But many Catalans still love me, they know that it has been a very difficult time at the club, and I’m from Barça and that love hasn’t changed and hopefully we can continue celebrating titles with Barça. With Xavi, with Jordi Cruyff, with the youngsters and hopefully with Frenkie de Jong, who wants to succeed at Barça… We all want Barça to win“, be sincere.

“I could write a book about my year and a half at Barça. We passed the coronavirus, there was no president, I had to answer all kinds of questions, the players I wanted could not be signed, with a complicated financial fair-play. From one day to the next we are left without Messi, the best in the world. Without Griezmann, on the last market day. They criticized me a lot for Luuk de Jong, and luckily he has given Barça points by scoring in the last stretch of games”, he summarized about his year and a half on the culé bench.