Koeman, between a rock and a hard place

Barça's hit on Thursday at the Camp Nou against Granada could have consequences that go beyond the fact that the Blaugrana team has once again missed the opportunity to depend on themselves to face the final leg of the League.

The home defeat at the worst moment is a shot in the foot that leaves Ronald Koeman again between a rock and a hard place. Sportingly, because in the absence of five games the team no longer depends on itself after the coach has seen how the return of veteran players has not served to complete the comeback started by the younger players. Facing the decisive game on Sunday in Valencia, the coach must decide whether to revolutionize the team by relying on men like Dest, Araújo or Dembélé with whom it was tried to face a comeback that Barcelona wasted at the worst moment.

But beyond the immediacy of the competition, Koeman plays a lot more. Outside of doors, his continuity seems assured because he has one more year on his contract, But nobody is aware that the silence of the board of directors regarding its continuity is more significant every day.

Not even after winning the Copa del Rey in Seville against Athletic Club did a confirmation of the coaching position come from the board. Koeman claims to feel calm despite the fact that in each press conference he grants he is asked about his situation, a fact that has come to annoy the Dutchman.

Without going any further, before the Cup final, Koeman had to answer four questions regarding his future in which they asked him if he had the feeling that the position was being played in that match.

After winning the final, the truce lasted a week. Koeman is aware that he is the coach chosen by the resigned Bartomeu and the idea of ​​the new board led by Joan Laporta is to start his own project thought by the sports team that leads Mateo Alemany and that is awaiting the incorporation sooner rather than later of Jordi Cruyff as technical secretary.

For now Koeman serves them until the end of the season, but the background sea on its continuity is a portfolio that will be evaluated at the end of the course. Many things may depend on the five games that remain and their ability to get the team off the mat again after the umpteenth suicide.

The Dutchman has already made it clear that he has a contract and that if they want to do without it, they are going to have to talk about a lot of things. A debate, which would have been almost definitively settled in the event that Barça had woken up on Friday as leader of the classification and depending on itself.

For now, whenever he has felt cornered, Koeman has found his way out, but this time the margin is very narrow and his ability to intervene will be mediated by the sanction that may fall after the red card he saw on Thursday for telling the referee “what a character.”