The Barcelona president stood by Koeman, despite Barcelona’s recent poor results in LaLiga Santander and their defeat in the Champions League ahead of their game against Cadiz on Thursday night.
The board are behind the coach
Joan Laporta reiterated his support towards Barcelona head coach Ronald Koeman and stressed that the club’s board would not hesitate to take certain decisions if they are obliged to do so. The Barcelona president stood by Koeman, despite Barcelona’s recent poor results in LaLiga Santander and their defeat in the Champions League ahead of their game against Cadiz on Thursday night. “We are responsible for managing the club,” Laporta told reporters. “We have more information when it comes to making decisions, and we have to consider everything much more. It is not a problem for us to make decisions of any kind, and if we have to take them at a particular time, we will take them, either if they are economical, sporting or social. We are behind the coach. Koeman is the coach of Barcelona’s first team and what we want is for things to go well for him.”
Barcelona will continue looking forward and fight
“The coaches, not only Koeman, depend a lot on their results and in the case of Barcelona, they are judged every game. But Koeman is our coach, and we are behind him now.” In Wednesday’s pre-match press conference, Koeman read a statement written by himself before walking out of the room. Following the Dutch coach’s comments, Laporta revealed that Koeman notified the board about his decision to read out a statement just before the presser. “We are in a difficult moment, and I think we just have to be very calm and hope for a good result tomorrow against Cadiz because that is what matters,” noted Laporta. “These situations are overcome with results. We will continue looking forward and fight.”
“We found out at the last minute that he wanted to make this statement, and well, he has an obligation to attend the press conference and is free to respond or express himself as he considers. We respect the coach’s decision, but the captains and we found out shortly before he did it.”