La Liga
CONFIRMED! RONALD KOEMAN IS BARCELONA MANAGER
Former coach, Quique Setien knew he was a dead man walking the moment the Barca were battered last week by Bayern Munich.
Within hours, he was sacked. Now, Ronald Koeman is chosen as Barcelona’s new manager and will quit Holland this week to take over, with Quique Setien a dead man walking after Bayern Munich horror show
The former Everton boss Koeman emerged as the Catalan side’s key target in the wake of the Champions League quarter-final humbling, and the club plan to install him as the new man in the dugout this week after Setien’s departure has been confirmed.
Ex-Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino had also been touted as a possible candidate for the role despite vowing to never take over after managing rivals Espanyol, but now Koeman is set to take the side forward into a new era.
The Dutchman played for Barcelona for six years during a highly successful career that saw him win LaLiga four times, as well as the Copa Del Rey and European Cup.
He featured 350 times for the Spanish giants and continues to carry his Barcelona affections with him everywhere he goes. The 57-year-old even has a personalised ‘BAR’ number plate on his black Bentley Continental to reference his link to the club.
The 57-year-old also spent time as assistant manager to Louis van Gaal between 1998 and 2000 – only increasing his desire to become the main man.
He has made no secret of his hopes to return to the team in a managerial capacity, confirming he had a clause in his contract with Dutch FA that allowed him to move to Barca after Euro 2020.
Even though the competition has been delayed until 2021, Koeman earlier this year told Marca that the terms of the deal still stood.
‘The clause in my contract to go to Barcelona is for after the European Championship.
‘No date has been mentioned, so now it’s after the European Championship in 2021. But I haven’t thought about it for a second anyway.’
One of his first jobs after taking control of his beloved side will be to convince talisman Lionel Messi to commit his future to the club.
The Argentine has become frustrated with the hierarchy during a disappointing campaign and has been linked with moves to Italy and the Premier League.
His rise to one of the top jobs in football marks a spectacular turnaround for Koeman, who was axed as Everton boss in 2017 – leaving the Toffees in the relegation zone after a string of poor results.
But he managed to rebuild himself after being appointed as manager of his national side the following year – lifting an underperforming team who had failed to qualify for Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup by securing qualification to Euro 2020.
With Barcelona now in a state of crisis, it is their club icon they turn to as they seek a similar rejuvenation following a miserable campaign.
After their hammering by the Bundesliga side on Friday night, one of the worst in the club’s history, Barca were left reeling, with Setien now a dead man walking. His sacking by the club is inevitable and expected imminently.
The former Real Betis manager was only appointed in January to replace Ernesto Valverde. Setien, 61, struggled with the pressures of managing the Nou Camp club as they lost out in the LaLiga title race to Real Madrid and exited the Copa del Rey at the quarter-final stage to Athletic Bilbao.
It was the first season since 2007-08 that Barcelona failed to win any silverware.
And there was little chance he would be kept on in the wake of Friday night’s eight-goal hammering at the hands of Bayern in Lisbon as Barcelona’s Champions League hopes were shot to bits.
At full time on Friday night, Setien told reporters: ‘Right now we feel enormous frustration and all we can do is make conclusions and think about the future.
‘Barca is a club that is so great that this will cause us a lot of damage and obviously some things will have to change.
‘The truth is this is a tremendously painful defeat.
‘Barcelona want to recover their identity. Right now, it’s too soon to think about whether I will stay or not. It doesn’t depend on me. We have to reflect, taking the situation into account and the importance that such a humiliating and painful defeat means.
‘I’m hurt, evidently, by such a hefty defeat.The way it came about has been tremendously painful.
‘I’m not worried about my future right now, but a defeat that is very painful for the club and the fans.’I know what a defeat of this calibre means.’
KOEMAN’S CAREER IN MANAGEMENT
- Vitesse – 2000-2001
- Ajax – 2001-2005
- Benfica – 2005-2006
- PSV – 2006-2007
- Valencia – 2007-2008
- AZ – 2009
- Feyenoord – 2011-2014
- Southampton – 2014-2016
- Everton – 2016-2017
- Holland – 2018-2020
It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players’ effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
“We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
“I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”
Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” by the Austrian defender, but urged his defence to play with better focus moving forward.
“It’s not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said.
“Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
“However, we can’t ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well.”
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg in Madrid.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Real Madrid’s legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti will go on trial next week for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the Madrid court which will hear the case has said.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of having cost Spain’s treasury more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.
The trial will begin on Wednesday and it is expected to last two days, a spokesman for the court said.
Ancelotti, who as a coach has won a record five Champions League trophies including three with Real, must be present for the hearings, he added.
Prosecutors accuse him of only declaring in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during those two years even though he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated his home was in Madrid.
They accuse Ancelotti of allegedly setting up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings from his image rights as well as from other sources such as real estate.
A Spanish court in 2023 ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair, but did not set a date.
Ancelotti dismissed the affair last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon” when he was asked about the case.
He took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed at Bayern Munich the following year.
The former Italy international midfielder, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, later managed Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Aside from his success in the Champions League he has won domestic league titles with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in France with Paris Saint-Germain.
-AFP
Follow the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Spain’s former soccer chief Luis Rubiales told Reuters on Thursday he would appeal a court ruling which found him guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.-
-Reuters
Follow the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
- WOMEN'S FOOTBALL1 week ago
Naira rain falls on Nigeria’s Flamingos after a 4-0 defeat of Algeria
- OBITUARY5 days ago
NFF mourns the demise of former FIFA referee, Bosede Momoh
- Nigerian Football3 days ago
Financial rainfall awaits Nigeria’s Flamingos for every goal scored in Algeria
- U-17 AFCON1 week ago
Morocco crowned CAF U-17 AFCON champions after dramatic penalty shootout win over Mali
- U-20 FOOTBALL1 week ago
Nigeria begin CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations title chase with Tunisian clash
- Nigerian Football7 days ago
Remo Stars maintain ‘7Up’ lead over Rivers United
- feature5 days ago
Ghana’s Cardinal, Appiah Turkson, listed as a possible Pope
- Nigerian Football3 days ago
Former WAFU President, Ogufere mourns Christian Chukwu