Koeman talks Juve, Ronaldo and Pirlo ahead of UCL clash

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The latest from the Barcelona boss

Ronald Koeman spoke to the press on Tuesday ahead of Barcelona’s Champions League group match against Juventus.

The Barca boss spoke about Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo, the defeat to Real Madrid and his approach for tomorrow’s big game in Turin.

Here are the best bits:

Koeman on Juventus

Firstly this is not a decisive match but it’s a match between two great teams that want to get as far as they can in this championship. It’s important to get a good result and what’s more play the sort of football we want to play. We have a lot of respect for the opposition so it’s a top level match.

Juve are one of the biggest teams in Europe with a lot of players with a lot of experience. even though they have absentees in defence they know how to dominate midfield and up front they have quality players.

Koeman on Ronaldo

I think for everyone it’s an important match and a nice one to watch. You always want the best players ont he pitch. Ronaldo is a great player. I don’t know if he’s in a condition to play after the coronavirus, that’s not my problem or my decision but I hope he’s there. As a player we respect him a lot and if he’s there we’ll be well prepared.

Koeman on El Clasico

Firstly when I was talking with Barca about being a coach I knew that it would not be an easy challenge because of the changes we wanted to make and because of Covid I think the challenge is that big … I ask everyone to keep calm and give it time because we are changing a lot of things. In the match against Real Madrid we were really good for 60 minutes. I respect the opinions we got worse. But for the hour we had plenty of opportunities. I saw a team with great ambition.

Koeman on Andrea Pirlo

It is easier to think of him as a player. He has given many successes to various teams here in Italy. And as a coach I cannot have an opinion. He has not been here for a long time, but if he’s been given the opportunity to lead a team as big as Juventus it is because of some reason. It takes time to implement a different style, with new players. Hopefully he will succeed as Juventus’ coach.

Koeman on replacing Coutinho

Like I’ve said several times we have several players with different characteristics. I normally go with players who are well trained, very ready. I’m also thinking about tactics. We need to have a look match by match. You have to play the best team that you can.

Koeman on Barca’s UCl away record

I’m the sort of coach that works hard and wants my team to win matches. We can’t play all the players up front and not think about defending. We are facing a great team with a lot of good players. We need to find the balance between attack and defence.

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Bartomeu: Barca accepted invite to European Super League

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The president had some big news before leaving

Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned from his position as Barcelona president on Tuesday and then spoke at a press conference where he dropped another bombshell.

The 57-year-old said that before leaving the board agreed to join in a future European super league that has been talked about recently.

Here’s what the ex-president had to say about it:

OMG!!! Bartomeu: "I can announce some extraordinary news. Yesterday we accepted a proposal to participate in a future European superleague, which would guarantee the future financial sustainability of the club. And we have accepted the future Club World Cup format."

— Dermot Corrigan (@dermotmcorrigan) October 27, 2020

There’s long been talk of a European Super League, but the subject of breakaway league raised it’s head again recently.

Some of the world’s biggest clubs were said to be in talks about launching a new competition that would also see Wall Street bank JP Morgan involved.

Clubs such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Barca, Real Madrid, Juventus and Bayern Munich have already been mentioned, although the plan would face plenty of opposition and it still seems unlikely currently.

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Breathe a sigh of relief: Josep Maria Bartomeu is finally gone

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But that does not immediately fix the problems within the club

Josep Maria Bartomeu has finally resigned. It only took the club’s best player ever denouncing him, massive financial losses, several humiliating exits from the UEFA Champions League, strange scandals, and an unprecedented revolt from the members. But it finally happened.

The latest defeat, against Real Madrid, was a nail in the coffin. But really, it’s not as if a bad start to the new season was not survivable, by a different president in a different situation. With Bartomeu, he was already on borrowed time. This start simply sealed his fate.

He only ascended because he was Sandro Rosell’s second, and the latter resigned. Bartomeu then won an election which extended his reign, right after Barcelona won the treble under Luis Enrique.

But after voters rewarded European success with electoral success, it’s all been downhill. In the transfer market, Bartomeu overspent badly on star players. He picked Ernesto Valverde as manager to replace Luis Enrique, which netted some success early on, but he was extremely gun shy in dismissing him. Bartomeu bewilderingly kept Valverde even after two successive European humiliations, and sacked him in a panic to replace him with Quique Setién in the middle of last season.

There were clear problems in terms of who was in charge of building the squad as well, with power struggles common, and seemingly no clear direction. Secretaries and sporting directors came and went, with no clear overarching plan. Older players were given massive long-term contracts, meanwhile, no good replacements were identified.

The team leaned heavily on Lionel Messi to deliver trophies, and to his great credit he did. The team did win La Liga and Copa del Rey titles, and they came very close to winning the Champions League again. Messi’s 2019 campaign was particularly great, and he won the Ballon d’Or for it, but it was simply too much to ask with a defense that melted down against Liverpool in the semifinals.

And yet Messi was targeted in an extremely odd, secret campaign, paid for through club funds. In a controversy that came to be known as “Barçagate,” a firm was paid one million euros to run social media campaigns that attacked Bartomeu’s enemies (including sometimes legends such as Messi) and promoted the president as a cool or knowledgeable figure.

Messi himself tried to quit the club in the last transfer window, only to be compelled by, essentially, legal threat to remain in place.

The financials are in bad shape, in part because of huge spending on salaries and transfer fees. With the pandemic cutting football profits, Barcelona simply ran out of money despite having extremely high revenues for years. That a team that spent 100+ million in fees for three different players in the past few years could no longer afford Memphis Depay from Lyon speaks volumes.

The club’s members finally had enough and organized a signature-collecting campaign which triggered a vote of no confidence that was set to take place in the coming weeks. Rather than face the indignity of a recall election, which looked likelier and likelier to boot him out, Bartomeu has chosen to quit.

He should have left a long time ago, but at the very least, he quit. You can breathe a sigh of relief.

Of course, the fact that he is out does not mean everything is suddenly okay. There are still financial issues to deal with. The squad still has high earners who don’t contribute to the extent they should, and big holes elsewhere as well. It’s unclear whether Ronald Koeman is the answer long-term, as well, when it comes to managers. Who knows if Messi still has faith in this club at all.

A rebuilding should, realistically, take years. Although the sense of malaise and mismanagement that permeates the institution could break much quicker. For that, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

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Bartomeu and Barcelona board quit - reports

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It’s finally happening....

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his entire board have resigned with an announcement expected shortly, according to multiple reports.

Sport are RAC1 are both reporting that Bartomeu tended his resignation this afternoon after a board meeting confirmed the vote of no confidence would go ahead no matter what.

The reports state that Bartomeu prefered to resign and leave now rather than wait and see what happened in the referendum.

Bartomeu’s departure comes after over 20,000 supporters signed a petition calling for the president to go after becoming increasingly angry at the way the club is being run.

The president, who has been in his post since 2014, spoke at a press conference last night about the delay to the referendum and how they were waiting to hear back from the Catalan government.

The vote will no longer be needed now that Bartomeu and Co. have quit, but an election will have to be held to decide on a new president.

A number of candidates have already made it clear they want to replace Bartomeu including Victor Font, Joan Laporta and Jordi Farre.

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Pjanic discusses competition for places in Barca midfield

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The midfielder hopes to start against Juventus

Miralem Pjanic spoke about the competition for places in the Barcelona midfield ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash against his former side Juventus.

The 30-year-old is competing with Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong for a spot in Ronald Koeman’s double pivot and is hoping to get the nod in Turin tomorrow night.

“All of us want to play, that’s normal. For now everything is going really well. There’s a good atmosphere. I got here a bit late because of Covid but now I’m feeling good. I’m available and I want to be part of the team in the Champions League and La Liga.

“I think I can give a lot to the side. The main thing I’m worried about is that the team is good and competes well. For now things in La Liga aren’t how we want. We’ve lost a few points but the season is really long and I think the quality that this team has, we can do a lot of things.

“We’ve all got abilities being at this big club. I’m here to play, I’m here to help my club and my team. It’s normal that i want to play. I think all three of us could play well together but that’s not my decision. The only thing I can do is train really well and hope the coach chooses me.”

Pjanic’s only Barcelona start so far came in the first match of the group stage against Ferencvaros. Manager Ronald Koeman is expected to make changes to his starting XI for the Juve game, meaning Pjanic could come back into the team.

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Veron believes Messi is uncomfortable at Barca

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‘It seems to me that it’s an era in transition’

The president of Estudiantes de la Plata Juan Sebastian Veron commented on Lionel Messi’s Barca situation this week. Veron is a former Argentine international and offers some interesting perspective on Lionel Messi’s situation at the club.

“I note a certain discomfort for now, understanding that all these years at Barcelona he looked to be a protagonist, and it seems to me that it’s an era in transition, with a lot of change, trying to find a certain identity. And Messi is involved in that too.

“It seems to me that to a certain extent, the club has not been able to accompany him, especially in the creation of a group and a team, and that at one point conspires against what he is. He has always been a competitive player and sought to try to stay at the top.”

Veron | Source

We can all agree there is a transition in place at Barca. However, unlike most clubs in the world, a transitional period still means you’re expected to compete for the treble each year. So Messi’s discomfort will be an interesting one to observe.

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BB Podcast: Barça vs Juventus Preview

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The two teams meet in Turin on Wednesday

This week on the Barca Blaugranes podcast, I interview Danny Penza, the blogger in chief from SB Nation’s Juventus blog, Black White and Read All Over. We talk all things Juventus heading into the Champions League clash this week. Danny and company recently launched their podcast, The Old Lady Speaks, and you can check that out here!

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more here.

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