La Liga
Turmoil in Barcelona as board holds emergency meeting with Koeman’s sack top on the agenda
Barcelona officials including president Joan Laporta are believed to have discussed the possibility of sacking under pressure coach Ronald Koeman until 4am following Wednesday night’s humbling Champions League defeat to Benfica.
Despite awful circumstances out of his control, pressure has been building on Koeman all season and a 3-0 defeat in Lisbon was only the latest in a string of poor results on the pitch.
According to SPORT, Koeman’s time has run out – they say his ‘credit is exhausted’ – and several board members held an emergency meeting immediately upon returning from Lisbon.
It is said that president Laporta, who has pleaded with fans to stick with Barça and be patient in a series of videos published on social media, headed straight to the club’s base at Ciutat Esportiva along with vice-president Rafa Yuste, football director Mateu Alemany and adviser Enric Masip.
The meeting was said to have lasted until 4am and the subject of discussion was whether Koeman will still be Barcelona coach by the weekend when the team visits Atletico Madrid.
At this moment in time, it is not clear whether a firm decision about his future was reached.
Speaking to the press immediately after the Champions League defeat, players including Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets appeared to defend Koeman, with the former claiming a change in coach ‘won’t solve anything’.
Should Koeman be dismissed, Camp Nou legend Xavi is already one of the favourites to be approached. Current Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez is another. Laporta is also said to be an admirer of Andrea Pirlo, who was sacked by Juventus after one season in charge.
Sacking Koeman will cost already cash-strapped Barça, whose salary cap for this season was revealed this week to be €250m less than last season and just a fraction of Real Madrid’s.
The Dutchman is believed to have paid his own buyout clause when he left his job as Netherlands national team coach in 2020, but would be entitled to have that €6m figure refunded by the club if his contract is not extended into a third season until 2023.
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
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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
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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
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