The Barcelona captains learned minutes before, through Ronald Koeman himself, of the content of the statement that he was going to address to the media at the press conference prior to Thursday's game against Cádiz. The Dutch coach wanted to inform the heavyweights of the locker room before taking such an important step to know and also value their opinion. The captains accepted the coach's decision, although they did not hesitate to warn him that the path he was taking had no turning back.
However, Koeman was unwilling to back down. He was very angry, according to insiders, at the way the board acted, leaking to the press the names of possible candidates to occupy his position, while they put a good face on him and assured him that everything was under control. The final trigger for the Dutch coach was a statement by the deputy to the president, Enric Masip, on the TV3 program 'Onze' in which he openly criticized the phrase “is what there is” that Koeman pronounced after Bayern, also assuring that it was “normal” that Laporta doubted after the poor performance of the team.
Nor did the front pages of some newspapers help this Wednesday, where the match against Cádiz was totally in the background, with possible substitutes to occupy their position as the main claim.
Koeman decided to take the most difficult path, but the only one he saw as possible to save his image and dignity. After speaking with the press officers, the technician went to the press room carrying a piece of paper and glasses. For three minutes he crudely exposed the real situation of the team, assuring that in the Champions “there are no miracles” and that LaLiga would be “a success” if the team ends up in the high zone of the classification, in addition to publicly pointing out those responsible for the club that words are blown away and that the club needs “more facts”.
Now it remains to be seen what will be the reaction of Joan Laporta, who is in Seville because he has an act in Palo de las Fronteras. Any scenario cannot be ruled out, until the immediate dismissal of the coach and that he no longer travels to Cádiz this Thursday.