Ronald Koeman will not sit on the Barça bench this Saturday, in the match that will measure his team at Atlético de Madrid. The Administrative Court of Sports (TAD), a body that belongs to the CSD, dismissed the appeal of the Barça club, that he had asked for the precautionary suspension of the Dutch coach's sanction. Koeman had been punished by the Competition Committee with two penalty matches for his expulsion. Barça's first appeal had been overthrown by the Appeal Committee. These two Committees belong to the FEF. Barça went to CAS with the hope that the precautionary suspension of the sanction would be granted before going into the merits of the matter. It was not so. Koeman will serve his second penalty game and return to Levante. He will be replaced by Alfred Schreuder.
Koeman insisted in the press conference prior to the game against Atlético that his expulsion against Granada had been something more than sporting: “What I can say is that yes, I feel that it is something personal. Saying 'what a character' I think is not insulting, it is not a reason to sanction a person for two games. So there is something else. “ Nor did he understand the delay of the TAD in solving, as if he did not know the times of the Committees in Spanish football. “I do not understand why the resolution lasts so long and it cannot be confirmed if I can be there tomorrow or not,” he said at 1:00 p.m. Late in the afternoon, the sanction was confirmed.