The historical beating received by Bayern Munich claims its first victim at Barcelona

The Catalan institution announced through a statement on its website the dismissal of Quique Setién as head coach.

Setién had been in charge of the team for eight months since he was signed on January 14 as a replacement for Ernesto Valverde. He was not the first choice of the board of directors, who previously showed interest in names such as Xavi Hernández, Ronald Koeman, and Mauricio Pochettino.

These are the same names that are now rumored to replace him, although Xavi, who has a close relationship with presidential candidate Víctor Font, continues to publicly state that his moment to train Barcelona has not yet come.

In his presentation press conference as coach, Setién said he would "die with his football ideas" and that the teams he had coached had only been guaranteed one thing: that they would play well. He also made it clear to the first team players that there would be room for youth players if they earned it.

These ideas, coming from his magnetism with the Cruyffist philosophy and put into practice at Lugo, Las Palmas, and Betis, his previous teams, motivated a large part of the fanbase tired of the flat and complacent style of play that characterized Barcelona under Ernesto Valverde.

In his first match, a league game against Granada at Camp Nou, there were some differences despite only winning 1-0. The team insisted on the idea of positional play, completing 1,005 passes and having a possession of 82.5%.

In addition, Ansu Fati started the match and Carles Pérez and Riqui Puig had minutes in the second half. It seemed like a good starting point.

But it didn't have continuity. The 2-0 defeat against Valencia in the next league game and the elimination against Athletic Club in the Copa del Rey were the first warnings of what was to come.

From there, a discontent began to grow in the dressing room, which did not see Setién fit to face the challenges of a top-level team like Barcelona. And the coach gave in to the demands of the key players (which started with neglect of positional play) in order to avoid fueling a fire that would eventually turn into a wildfire.

The 2-0 defeat against Real Madrid, the last league game played by Barcelona before the break due to coronavirus, was the first major blow for Setién and triggered the first public controversy between the squad and the coaching staff. The players did not appreciate the gestures of the assistant coach, Éder Sarabia, on the bench.

The situation did not improve precisely with the return of LaLiga, as Barcelona missed out on the title with stumbles against Sevilla, Celta, and Atletico Madrid before Real Madrid celebrated winning the championship on the same night that Barcelona made a fool of themselves against Osasuna at Camp Nou.

Setién took over Barcelona as league leaders and finished five points behind the champion.

At that point, the rift between the coaching staff and the squad was already so great that Setién and Lionel Messi, the captain, had a meeting with the aim of resolving the disagreements to face the Champions League. Among other things, the squad did not understand why Sarabia had to be the one giving instructions during halftime breaks.

But it was already too late for Setién and Sarabia to find a way to earn respect from a squad full of stars with dozens of titles in their trophy cabinets, who quickly stopped believing in them.

The only good news in the final stretch of the season were Riqui Puig and Ansu Fati, who had a good amount of minutes, spurred on by the lack of available players in the first team. But when it came to the Champions League, the coach forgot about them (except for assigning Ansu the task of playing the last 20 minutes against Bayern) and returned to relying on the sacred cows.

Setién's adventure at Barcelona ends with a trophyless season for the club since 2007-2008, and with a record of 16 wins, 4 draws, and 5 defeats. Interestingly, he managed the same number of games as Valverde this season, 25, and their records were very similar: 16 wins, 5 draws, and 4 defeats. Information from EFE.

❗ Quique Setién stops being the coach of the first team
▶ The new coach will be announced in the coming days, as part of a wide restructuring of the first team

August 17, 2020