PRESSURE has piled up on Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman after the club made their worst-ever start to a Champions League campaign with a 3-0 defeat at Benfica.
Barcelona were behind after just three minutes in Portugal, when Darwin Nunez scored at the near post.
He then added a penalty with 11 minutes to play, after Rafa Silva’s second-half strike, to match the scoreline by which Barca lost to Bayern Munich in their opening Group E fixture.
To compound Barcelona’s night to forget, Eric Garcia was sent off late on.
The Catalans are already five points behind La Liga leaders Real Madrid domestically and now face an uphill struggle. If they do not qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League, it will be for the first time since 2003/04.
Speaking after the match, Koeman said the players were still behind him but added that he did not know if the board felt the same after the Benfica game.
“As I’ve said just the other day, regarding my future I can’t say anything,” Koeman said. “Because I don’t know what the club is thinking in this respect, and I don’t want to answer any more questions on this because it is not in my hands. We’ll see.”
“In the end the culprits [in defeat] are the coaches. But I think in many phases during the game we implemented our plan very well because we were superior to them. From 2-0 we had problems.”
“But we had opportunities to score two goals in the game. We were not inferior except in effectiveness in the game.”
Koeman added there was “no point” comparing his Barcelona team to those from the past, and says he has the confidence of the dressing room.
“There’s no point in comparing this with Barcelona teams of years gone by. That’s as clear as water. I can only give you my opinion of my work at the club – I feel backed by my players and their attitude.
“Where you have to win is with the players that we have, by playing our way. To have the ball and create opportunities and this we did. But if you don’t score, you don’t win the game.
“I understand that you see the final result and I accept it. When you win a game everything is calm and now we have lost a game so the future of the coach in this world [is in doubt] – you have to accept that and if you don’t then it’s better to leave.”
Barcelona president Joan Laporta backed Koeman last week but said the board would not shirk tough decisions if they needed to be made.
- Sky Sports
