La Liga
Barcelona starts critical 3-game home stint for Koeman
Ronald Koeman got a reprieve. Now he needs to make it last.
A visit from Valencia on Sunday kicks off a three-game home stint that the Barcelona coach said must mark a turnaround for his beleaguered team.
After facing Valencia, Barcelona will host Dynamo Kyiv and Real Madrid within a week.
The run of games at Camp Nou comes after an international break that gave Koeman a chance to regroup following a tumultuous period for a team struggling to win without Lionel Messi.
Two weeks ago, Koeman’s job was considered in serious jeopardy after Barcelona had lost both of its Champions League games by an identical 3-0 score. Barcelona headed to the Spanish capital to play Atlético Madrid amid widespread reports that the club leadership was scouting for a replacement for its coach.
However, instead of firing him, club president Joan Laporta ended days of silence by reaffirming Koeman as coach, asking fans to be patient as the club tries to repair its hard-hit finances that have made it difficult to retain its top stars. The public backing of Koeman came hours before another painful loss: a 2-0 defeat at Atlético that left Barcelona with only three wins in seven Spanish league games this season.
Koeman has pleaded for more time so he can get back injured players to help an attack that is struggling to produce goals without Messi and Antoine Griezmann. Forwards Ousmane Dembelé, Martin Braithwaite and Sergio Agüero are all sidelined with injures. Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho have recently returned from long injury layoffs.
Agüero appears ready to make his debut for Barcelona since leaving Manchester City this offseason as a free agent. He had been sidelined with a right thigh problem until he played a friendly with Barcelona on Wednesday.
But Koeman also acknowledged that any Barcelona coach must produce results and pointed to this week’s tripleheader as key.
Next weekend’s match against Madrid will certainly be critical for Koeman, whose team lost both “clásicos” last season. But before that, his team faces a must-win game against Dynamo on Wednesday. Barcelona is last in its Champions League group and at risk of failing to reach the knockout rounds for the first time in two decades.
Valencia should also offer a difficult test. The team that had struggled to find its identity ever since the exit of coach Marcelino García in 2019 has only lost twice in eight games under José Bordalás. Bordalás earned a reputation as a defensive mastermind at Getafe, where he forged a competitive team despite its limited individual talents.
Barcelona enters the match in ninth place, albeit with a game in hand, right behind Valencia in eighth.
Laporta will also face an important hurdle on Sunday when his board will submit its budget, and its plan to seek financing for a remodeling of Camp Nou, to a vote by delegates of the member-owned club.
POSTPONED MATCHES
Real Madrid and defending champion Atlético Madrid both had their matches scheduled for this weekend postponed to give players on international duty with South American nations more rest time.
Madrid’s game against Athletic Bilbao and Atlético’s match against Granada will be played at dates to be determined.
The postponed matches give Real Sociedad the chance to take the league lead with a draw or win against Mallorca. The team from San Sebastián is in third place, level on points with leader Madrid and second-place Atlético.
Forward Mikel Oyarzabal leads Sociedad with six goals, second in the league behind Madrid’s Karim Benzema with nine.
-AP
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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