Barcelona, the jewel of the soccer mecca, once gathered the world's soccer elite, and its formation is magnificent enough to make any coach covet. However, with the team's recent decline, the manager's position is like a hot potato, let people avoid it. The twist seems to start from the moment Valverde stepped down.
In 2017, Valverde joined Barcelona with his coaching talent and in two and a half years, he led the team to 145 matches with a record of 97 wins, 32 draws and 16 losses, a 66.9% win rate. He led the team to win four trophies, including two La Liga titles, a La Liga Super Cup and a Copa del Rey. However, the team was reversed by Roma and Liverpool in consecutive Champions League knockout rounds in 2018 and 2019, which became a pain for Valverde.
Valverde's conflicts with players during his tenure at Barcelona continue to come to light. Vidal, the most efficient goal scorer in the midfield, was mostly a substitute under Valverde, which made him resentful. Messi, who has also had his share of arguments with Valverde, has said in an interview, "There are things that can't be said, let them be secrets, it's better that people don't know the truth."
After Valverde's departure, Setien took over as head coach. However, Setien's honors, both as a player and as a coach, were not impressive. He played 2 matches for the national team without scoring a goal, and 10 matches in Europe's three major cups, scoring only 3 goals. Since retiring, he has coached Atlético Santander, Las Palmas and Real Betis, but Atlético Santander and Las Palmas have both been relegated to the Segunda Division, and Real Betis terminated his contract in May 2019 as well. Setien once laughed at himself, "I was herding cows in the countryside yesterday, but today I'm the Barcelona manager in a blur."
Setien's coaching career did not go well. He tried to emulate Cruyff's philosophy, but it didn't work well. In just half a season, he not only lost the La Liga title, but was also bloodied 2-8 by Bayern in the Champions League, and had a strained relationship with his players.In August 2020, Setien was sacked, making him the shortest-serving Barcelona manager since 2003's Antic.
After Setien stepped down, Koeman, a former Barcelona stalwart, took over the coaching reins. However, his ascension to the post sparked a series of controversies. His decision to let Suarez go was handled in a way that caused a lot of dissatisfaction. Suarez said in an interview, "Koeman called me and told me that I wasn't in his plans, a call that lasted only 40 seconds, which is not the way to say goodbye to a team legend."
Interestingly, Suarez, after being sold to Atletico Madrid, scored a goal against Barcelona and refused to celebrate after the goal, only using a hand gesture to Koeman in the stands. Last season, Suarez also led Atletico over Barcelona and Real Madrid to win the La Liga title, countering Koeman's contempt with a gold-rich championship.
Koeman has a temper of his own. After seeing Laporta's ruthless face, he took a public swipe at his boss. In the 6th round of this season's La Liga, when Barcelona challenged Cadiz away from home, in view of Laporta's constant release of news to the media that he was going to change the boss, Coman made a mind-boggling maneuver in the pre-match press conference by reading a statement he had prepared long ago. In the statement, Koeman talked about the current state of Barcelona and said that the team would not do too well in the Champions League this season. Eventually, he shouted the slogan: "Long live Barcelona" and left the press conference.
