Ronald Koeman: "Xavi's situation at Barça is the same as mine."

He decided to speak up once again. Ronald Koeman was dismissed from FC Barcelona and, in his place, Xavi Hernandez took over as the new coach of the Blaugrana team. Speaking to the press at the 'Koeman Cup' charity golf tournament, the Dutch coach requested "maximum support" for Xavi and did not hesitate to refer to Joan Laporta.

"It is true that Xavi's situation is the same as mine. It means that changing a coach is not always something that can improve. The only thing I ask is support for Xavi because no coach is solely to blame. I did not have the maximum support from the president, I hope he has learned from this and does support Xavi," Koeman said.

Koeman was critical of Laporta's handling of his departure. "I did not like that the president said 'off the record' that he did not know if I would continue or not, that there were doubts, and that is not good or what a coach needs. Even if they fire you, internally you need to discuss everything, but externally you must defend the coach because if not, coaching becomes even more difficult," admitted the Dutchman, who suffered during the period when his position was in doubt.

"I hope the president knows the situation of the club, which is sad and hurts me because I am a culé. I still live in Barcelona, I will be the coach of the Netherlands starting in January, and I ask for maximum support for Xavi because he is a legend, a very good coach from the club, and not very responsible for the situation the Barça is in," Koeman reiterated.

And with Xavi, he acknowledged that the team has improved "in some aspects," but due to signings. "It is not good to compare, when I left, Barça was 8 points behind Madrid and now they are almost double. It is not good to compare. Generally, Xavi's job is just as difficult as mine, considering the club's situation," he defended the Terrassa native.

"If the last home games are lost, it is for a reason. We also lost. It is the reality of Barça and we have to accept it, and we must support the team because Barça needs time to return to what it has been. I ask for calm, we must think in the long term and give confidence and support to the coach," he repeated.

He does not consider himself a failure as a Barça coach

Likewise, he made a positive assessment of his time as a Blaugrana coach, with a Copa del Rey won in a season and a half. "I do not feel like a coach who has failed, not at all. We failed in Granada in LaLiga, but we won a Copa title, and if you win something, it is not a failure," he said.

"I have defended the club every day, accepted player departures for the good of the club... There may be things that I should change, we are human, and I had errors as a coach, like any coach except Pep Guardiola, who is the only one who does everything right," he confessed, sincerely.

He also asked not to be attacked for having changed the so-called 'Barça DNA'. "You cannot blame a coach for losing the Barça DNA because there are many ways to win. We won the Copa with great football. There is no clear system nowadays, and it depends on the players you have. And it is true that nowadays Barça cannot sign the best players in the world, and that distances you from the best, like Manchester City or Liverpool today," he warned.

A summary of his year and a half

On a personal level, he believes he is still loved in Barcelona, where he continues to live. "There are people who criticize, and that is normal. But many culés still have affection for me, they know it has been a very complicated moment at the club, and I am a Barça fan, and that affection has not changed, and hopefully, we can continue celebrating titles with Barça. With Xavi, with Jordi Cruyff, with the young players, and hopefully with Frenkie de Jong, who wants to succeed at Barça... We all want Barça to win," he confessed.

"I could write a book about my year and a half at Barça. We went through the coronavirus, there was no president, I had to answer all sorts of questions, we were unable to sign the players we wanted, with complicated financial fair play. Overnight, we were left without Messi, the best in the world. Without Griezmann, on the last day of the transfer window. I was heavily criticized for Luuk de Jong, and thankfully he scored points for Barça in the final stretch of games," he summed up his year and a half on the culé bench.