Koeman's Barbed Compliment to Laporta: "He's Learned to..."
Ronald Koeman indicated that the current president of FC Barcelona has learned to "have the back" of his coach, a situation contrary to what he did with him during his time as coach of the Catalan team.
The former Barcelona coach, now the current Dutch national team manager, stated on Thursday that Joan Laporta, president of FC Barcelona, has learned "compared to what he used to do" to "have the back of his coach."
Koeman made these remarks during the presentation of a golf tournament he organizes in Sant Esteve de Sesrovires on July 18 and 19, with proceeds going to the Cruyff Foundation.
Comparing Xavi's situation with his own on the Barcelona bench, he was clear about the treatment received from the president: "You go through very tough moments as a coach, especially if you don't have a president who supports you. If Laporta has learned anything in this new phase, it's how he should support his coach compared to how he did it with me."
Koeman also reviewed the current affairs of the Barcelona first team marked by the victory (2-3) of Xavi Hernandez's players in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals against PSG, where, in his opinion,
Barcelona "did very well."
Before the match, the coach of the French team, Luis Enrique Martínez, expressed the opinion that he represents the playing spirit of Barça better than the current Barcelona coach, remarks that the Dutch national team coach thought were "out of place."
"I don't know if there's a written script of what the Barça DNA is. For me, it's about winning titles. There are only three people who have this DNA. Johan Cruyff is the first who changed a lot in this sense by playing with wingers and attractive football. The second is Pep, the best football in Barça's history was with him. And there's one missing: Messi. If you have Messi, you don't need to talk about DNA. He's the greatest of all time," he argued.
