Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
Spanish LaLiga giants FC Barcelona have fired their head coach Ernesto Valverde, while appointing Quique Setien as his replacement.
FC Barcelona and Ernesto Valverde have reached an agreement to terminate the contract that united both parties. The club publicly expresses its gratitude to Ernesto Valverde for his professionalism, his commitment, his dedication and his always positive treatment towards all that make up the Barca family.
Ernesto Valverde was coach of the FC Barcelona first team for 163 official games, winning 108 (66.25%), 35 draws (21.47%) and 20 defeats (12.26%). During that time he has claimed four trophies as coach: two LaLiga titles, a Copa del Rey and a Spanish Super Cup.
His spell as coach began in the summer of 2017 when he took over at the club following four seasons with Athletic Club de Bilbao. After losing out to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup in his debut as manager, he ended the season claiming a league and cup double, beating FC Sevilla in the Copa del Rey final in the Wanda Metropolitano whilst in the Champions League they lost out to Roma in the quarterfinals.
His second season at FC Barcelona began with victory in the Spanish Super Cup against Sevilla in Tangier, Morocco. The blaugranes also retained their league title, clinching the league at Camp Nou against Levante. The end of the campaign brought moments of disappointment with Barça losing in the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool and in the final of the Copa del Rey against Valencia.
In 2019/20 Barça ended the first half of the campaign as league leaders – level on points with Real Madrid – and with a place assured in the last 16 of the Champions League. Last week the team were knocked out of the revamped Spanish Super Cup in the semi-finals against Atlético Madrid.
Now Valverde has been replaced by 61 year old Quique Setien. The man from Cantabria in the north of Spain comes to Barça after having had spells at Racing Santander, Poli Ejido, Logroñés, Lugo, Las Palmas and Betis, his previous club in the 2018/19 season. Throughout his career he has been a proponent of possession based, attacking football that has been attractive to the fans.
As a player Setién was a midfielder who excelled with Racing Santander over 12 seasons in two separate spells. He also featured for Atlético Madrid where he won the Spanish Super Cup as well as enjoying spells at Logroñés and Levante.
