Barcelona, Oct 3: Ronald Koeman will keep his job despite the latest humbling defeat for the once mighty Barcelona.
Atlético Madrid dealt Barcelona another harsh helping of life without Lionel Messi when Diego Simeone’s well-honed team easily won 2-0 in the Spanish league on Saturday.
Luis Suárez and Thomas Lemar set up goals for each other, and only the apparent desire by Simeone to let Barcelona flounder instead of going all out on attack saved Koeman’s side from a heavier loss.
Fortunately for Koeman, Barcelona’s defeat came hours after club president Joan Laporta broke his silence and pledged that Koeman would stay on regardless of the result at the defending champions.
His defense of Koeman came after two days of silence while Spanish media reported that Laporta was ready to fire the Dutch manager after Barcelona lost its first two Champions League games.
The first goal by Lemar caused Koeman to throw up his hands. After Suárez’s second, he could only rub his eyes before he picked up his phone to presumably give more orders to assistant Alfred Schreuder in the dugout.
Atlético moved into second place, level on points with leader Real Madrid. Barcelona is in ninth place, and five points behind the top two. (AP)
