Ronald Koeman will be unveiled as the new Barcelona manager this week after leaving his current post with the Netherlands, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The former Southampton and Everton boss will be asked to pick up the pieces following Barcelona’s 8-2 humiliation against Bayern Munich in last Friday’s Champions League quarterfinal. The coach who oversaw that defeat, Quique Setien, was sacked in the wake Monday’s emergency board meeting.
Koeman, 57, won four La Liga titles and one European Cup with Barcelona during his playing days. He was also assistant to Louis van Gaal at the Camp Nou between 1998 and 2000.
Koeman has posted mixed results during his managerial career over the past decade. He was widely praised for seamlessly taking the reins from Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton and leading the Saints to seventh- and sixth-placed finishes in the Premier League. However, he failed to meet expectations during his spell at Everton following a huge outlay over three transfer windows.
His time in charge of the Netherlands can be deemed a success, though. The Dutch national team failed to qualify for Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup, but punched its ticket to Euro 2020 after Koeman placed his trust in several up-and-coming players, including defender Matthijs de Ligt and Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
But the job at Barcelona could be Koeman’s toughest assignment yet. The 2019-20 season marked the first time Barca has failed to collect a trophy in 12 years. They surrendered the league title to Real Madrid and fell to Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals.
“It has been several years since we have been able to be competitive on a European level,” said Barca defender Gerard Pique after the embarrassing loss to Bayern. “We all have to think internally and decide what is best for the club, for Barca. Tonight was unacceptable for Barcelona.”
“It was a horrible match. It leaves a bad feeling, a disgrace,” he added.
The one former NFL quarterback who understands the injury Alex Smith has overcome admits he’s living vicariously through him.
“Heck yeah!” former Washington quarterback Joe Theismann told ESPN in a telephone interview. “Go, Alex, go.”
Washington activated Smith off the physically unable to perform list Sunday morning, a remarkable development since he broke the tibia and fibula in his right leg in a November 2018 game against Houston.
That was fun. The Champions League quarterfinals delivered incredible drama this week, with the results of four indelible matches sending two German sides and a pair of French clubs to the competition’s semifinals. Below, we take stock and highlight the biggest winners and losers from the games.
Winner: Bayern Munich’s front office
Arguably the defining image from Bayern Munich’s hammering of Barcelona was that of Canadian teenager Alphonso Davies rocketing past Nelson Semedo before strolling into the penalty area and setting up one of his side’s eight goals on the day.
It was almost too indicative of the current state of each club: a young, rising superstar leaving an overpriced acquisition in his wake. Bayern’s brass has built an absolute juggernaut, setting the club up for sustained continental success thanks to a focus on recruiting young talent.
The surreal win over a crumbling Barcelona team was the greatest indication yet that this Bayern side will give opponents problems for a long, long time.
Loser: Josep Maria Bartomeu
One could pick almost anybody from Barcelona here – such was the disastrous nature of Friday’s jaw-dropping defeat. But the biggest loser in that debacle could end up being Bartomeu, whose status as club president was already on unstable ground before Bayern blasted his team into oblivion.
Pool / Getty Images Sport / Getty
When Philippe Coutinho bagged a late brace, the embarrassment was truly complete: a player for whom Barcelona paid about €160 million and fell flat on his face at the Camp Nou contributing to their most humiliating night – while still on the Spanish side’s books. Woof.
If that isn’t an indictment of Bartomeu and the Catalan club’s horrid decision-making in recent years, nothing is. With presidential elections on the horizon at Barcelona, Bartomeu could already be cooked.
Winner: Single-leg knockout format
Arriving under extenuating circumstances, the biggest star of the Champions League quarterfinals was easily the single-elimination format.
Two-legged ties are wonderful, especially when they offer the chance to see a pair of heavyweights do battle twice. But as we’ve seen over the past several days, they simply can’t beat the urgency of a one-off match with high stakes. A single chance to get it right ensures an irreplicable kind of tension and excitement.
UEFA has said it’s not considering this mini-tournament setup for future seasons; European football’s governing body would simply never entertain the idea of fewer matches and, as a result, less cash. That’s just the way things are in today’s game, so enjoy this while it lasts.
Loser: Pep Guardiola
Here we go again.
Guardiola won the first seven Champions League quarterfinal ties of his managerial career with Barcelona and Bayern Munich. But after Saturday’s upset at the hands of Lyon, he’s now been eliminated in the last-eight stage of the competition in three straight seasons with Manchester City.
FRANCK FIFE / AFP / Getty
He’s not solely to blame, of course – the margins are incredibly fine at this elite level – but the celebrated bench boss unquestionably has a habit of making life difficult for his team with dubious tactics in these key matches. The Spaniard is clearly a brilliant tactical mind – nobody is debating that – but his latest loss was the most obvious sign yet that he’s overthinking things.
Had Manchester City simply used their tried and tested 4-3-3 system, they’d probably be in the semifinals right now. Instead, Guardiola sprung another surprise with a largely untested three-man defense, and it backfired miserably. Sometimes simpler is better, Pep.
Winner: Houssem Aouar
If Jean-Michel Aulas’ phone wasn’t already ringing off the hook, it is now.
Aouar has already been linked with a host of Europe’s top clubs – including the likes of Manchester City and Juventus – and his latest spectacular showing will only embolden Aulas to demand a small fortune for the 22-year-old central midfielder this summer. Together with fellow rising star Maxence Caqueret, Aouar sparkled against City, showcasing his combination of poise, technique, bite, and passing range.
It’s quite the package, and it would improve just about any side in the world.
Loser: Ligue 1 haters
Farmers league, eh?
FARMERS LEAGUE ?
?????? @OL
— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) August 15, 2020
Yes, a bounce or two here or there could have left both Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon watching the rest of the competition from home; if Raheem Sterling scores the easiest chance of his life Saturday, Manchester City are suddenly well-placed to send Les Gones packing.
But that shouldn’t negate the fantastic accomplishments of the two Ligue 1 clubs. At all. Every champion in the history of this tournament, whether they won by an inch or a mile, needed a slice of luck at some point.
Luck shouldn’t be a dirty word, and it shouldn’t take anything away from PSG and Lyon, who could yet meet in the final. If that happens, it will be the first time two French teams are in the Champions League’s showpiece contest. What would the haters say then?
Winners: Atalanta
Sometimes you win even when you lose. An absolutely exhausted Atalanta side ultimately succumbed – just barely – to the might of PSG, conceding a pair of last-gasp goals that brought a fairytale tournament run to its end.
And yet, they received a well-deserved welcome from their fans upon returning from Lisbon to Bergamo:
Atalanta get a hero’s welcome upon returning to Bergamo ? @Atalanta_BC pic.twitter.com/Jmm1Ugmgy6
— Italian Football TV (@IFTVofficial) August 13, 2020
Just reaching the last eight was a monumental achievement for a modest club five years removed from a 17th-place finish in Serie A. And where this could potentially signal the end of an era for some teams, one gets the sense that Gian Piero Gasperini and Co. will create more magic in the years to come, even if there are changes to the personnel on the pitch.
Bonus winner: Variety
For the first time since the 1995-96 season, there are no English or Spanish clubs in the Champions League semifinals. PSG and Bayern Munich need no introduction, but if viewers come away from the final four learning something new about RB Leipzig or Lyon – whether that’s an appreciation for a particular player or something else – that can only be considered a positive.
Pool / Getty Images Sport / Getty
One of the primary concerns in European football of late has been the ever-widening gap between the uber-wealthy and everyone else. That divide, for the most part, has seen the same teams reach the latter stages of the Champions League year after year.
The current list of semifinal contenders may end up a minor blip tied to the unpredictability of the single-leg format, but it’s always nice to have a little variety.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Selfish. Not committed. Questionable work ethic and drive.
Gets angry when things don’t go his way on the field. Doesn’t take football seriously.
Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette has been described these ways at one point or another over the past three years. It’s obviously not the kind of reputation anyone — not just a football player entering a contract year — wants.
Fournette says the reputation is undeserved and completely wrong.
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He reinforces that by relaying what he said newly signed running back Chris Thompson told him when they first met earlier this spring: “He said, ‘You ain’t nothing like people say you are,’” Fournette said. “[Thompson thought] I was always upset about things. Most of you guys know I’m always joking and playing; that’s just me. I think it kind of got out of hand, so I just wanted to get that out there.”
Fournette admits that his attitude after some games hasn’t been the best — especially after losses, mainly because there have been a lot of them. There were a combined 21 in 2018 and 2019, which piled up just after the Jaguars came within 10 minutes of making the Super Bowl in Fournette’s rookie season.
His postgame answers were short and blunt. It was easy to see that he either believed he wasn’t given the ball enough, the offense didn’t stick with the run game long enough or he wasn’t happy with a playcall.
“At the end of the day, I want to win,” Fournette said. “Who doesn’t want to win? I came from a 2017 season with a team who was 10-6, we had [a good] talent level and then the next couple of years went down the drain. So I just want to address a lot of things, too, especially since the media came out and said I was an angry guy. No. 1, would you be angry if you’re losing week in and week out? That is one of my biggest problems; I do get upset when we lose and it takes me a while to get over it. I expect, just like anybody else, if you put the work in, you want the W, but a lot of times last year it didn’t go like that.
“I guess they kind of misinterpreted that, and don’t get me wrong, I was upset from the losing, but that’s just the winner in me. That’s any guy who plays this professional level of sports.”
Leonard Fournette enters a contract year with a lot to prove. “His mindset is great. He’s done a nice job, he looks good, he’s in shape, he’s been working hard,” said Jaguars coach Doug Marrone. John Raoux/AP Photo
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Fournette doesn’t seem to get as much credit for the good things he has done as he gets for the negative things. For instance, he donated 56,000 meals over a two-month span in the New Orleans area this past March. He donated $50,000 to J.J. Watt’s fundraising effort in 2017 to help those in Houston recover from Hurricane Harvey.
He partnered with a nutritional supplement brand to donate funds to help Jacksonville’s Raines High School football team purchase state championship rings and jackets. He also donated several of his numerous football trophies, which were melted down and turned into a set of weights for the same team.
Do an internet search for “Fournette” and “cleats” and there are several stories and videos of him giving his cleats away, especially to kids. Fournette helped a student trainer at LSU, Jhane Nichol, by paying the rest of her tuition after she started a GoFundMe effort looking for help.
Those good deeds seem to be forgotten when it comes to Fournette. Those in the public eye are sometimes not the way they are perceived by those on the outside. There are multiple layers to who they are, and unfortunately, the negative oftentimes seems to take over the narrative.
Fournette understands that’s the way things work, especially with the instantaneous reactions on social media. But he doesn’t like it.
“I’m not a jerk, but when it comes to football and winning, I’m all-in for that,” he said.