BARCELONA, Sep 30: Ronald Koeman needs his Barcelona side to win big when it visits Atlético Madrid to have a shot at saving his job. That is, if he makes it to Saturday. Two embarrassing losses to start the Championship League have left the Dutch coach under extreme pressure three days before a trip to the capital to face the Spanish league’s titleholder.
Losing 3-0 to Bayern Munich, a European juggernaut, two weeks ago was humbling. But to follow that up with another 3-0 loss at Benfica on Wednesday may be too much for the club’s leadership to take.
Koeman spoke after the match in Lisbon like a man who knew his time at Camp Nou could be counted in days, if not hours.
“As for my future, I cannot say anything because I don’t know what the club thinks about it,” Koeman said. “It is not in my hands. We will see . . . at the end, the guilty party is the coach.”
Club president Joan Laporta and Koeman have been at odds since Laporta returned to run the club last March. Laporta went as far as to look for another coach in the offseason before settling on keeping Koeman for the second year of his contract.
Laporta and Koeman have shared the need to convince Barcelona’s fans to lower expectations.
A sixth-place standing in the Spanish league has almost become respectable for the former champions. Barcelona is in last place of Group E and in real threat of not making the knockout rounds for the first time in 20 years.
“Everyone knows the problem of Barcelona today,” he said. “The team is not the same as it was for years. We saw that in today’s game. It is crystal clear. We have lost players who made the difference. I am not saying that we have to accept it or that I have no responsibility, but in today’s game we should have gotten more from our players.” (AP)
