Reviewing Ernesto Valverde’s shortcomings that led to his dismissal
After two and a half years as Barcelona manager, the club sacked Ernesto Valverde after their loss against Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Cup.
While this isn’t the first time a manager has been sacked mid-season for Barca, it is the first since in recent history since 2003 with Louis van Gaal. Although Valverde as a Barcelona coach showed favorable statistics with almost a 67% win ratio and 4 trophies to Barca; the coach has been under scrutiny for a while.
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A lot of the fans speculated that the 55-year-old was changing the Barcelona motto for playing the game and they had lost their defining quality; while many also felt that he relied on Messi to save the day time and time again.
Thus, it doesn’t come entirely as a shock that he has been replaced by Quique Setien to succeed him and bring back the Barca style of play.
With the club’s achievement of a La Liga title last season, Valverde had made himself validated, however, the club didn’t manage to secure a Champions League title and even lost the Copa del Rey final against Valencia (2-1). This season they don’t seem to fare much better especially in their form away from Camp Nou.
The Atletico Madrid loss might have been the last straw, but it wouldn’t be the first time that the Catalans lost a game in the last crucial minutes under Coach Valverde.
Here are the crucial mistakes that Valverde made during the two disastrous Champions League exits that sum up the idea that led to his sacking