Piqué: "Friction doesn't help anyone"

Ronald Koeman, at the Nuevo Mirandilla Stadium.MARCELO DEL POZO / Reuters

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With Ronald Koeman in the pillory, after the pulse raised by the coach to the board chaired by Joan Laporta, Barcelona found no respite in Cádiz.

A week on the slide for the Dutch coach, beaten by Bayern in the Champions League (0-3), stuck with Granada at the Camp Nou, also against Cádiz at the Nuevo Mirandilla.

Barcelona, ​​with one game less, is seven points behind the leader, Real Madrid.

“We come from not very good results.

We all have to put the batteries: goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, forwards… Everyone.

The League is long.

We are in a bad streak, but I am convinced that we can get out of this situation, ”said Sergi Roberto, one of the team's captains.

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• Barcelona neither knows nor answers

The Dutch coach, fed up with the attrition game that he understands by Joan Laporta's board, exploded in the previous match against Cádiz.

The Barça coach transformed the press conference before traveling to the Nuevo Mirandilla into a monologue not agreed with the club or with the captains of the first team, a statement in which he demanded unconditional support.

Koeman, this time, did agree to answer questions.

"I stay with the attitude of the players and not with my personal situation," he said.

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Cádiz Jeremias Ledesma, Luis Espino, Isaac (Carlos Akapo, min. 78), Varazdat Haroyan, Victor Chust, Fali (Jens Jonsson, min. 39), Tomás Alarcón, Álvaro Jiménez (Salvi, min. 45), Santiago Arzamendia (Perea, min. 56), Negredo (Lozano, min. 56) and Rubén SobrinoBarcelona Ter Stegen, Sergiño Dest (Ricard Puig, min. 79), Óscar Mingueza, Ronald Araújo, Piqué, Frenkie De Jong, Busquets, Pablo Páez Gavira (Nico Gonzalez, min. 72), Luuk de Jong (Coutinho, min. 67), Yusuf Demir (Sergi Roberto, min. 45) and Depay

Goals Referee Carlos del Cerro Grande Yellow cards Frenkie De Jong (min. 61), Sergi Roberto (min. 64), Varazdat Haroyan (min. 67), Carlos Akapo (min. 87), Tomás Alarcón (min. 89) and Busquets (min. 95) Red Cards Frenkie De Jong (min. 64)

Koeman insists on the idea of ​​being "realistic." "You have to see the squad we have," recalled the coach, who believes that Barça cannot aspire to conquer the League, much less to conquer Europe. The locker room does not turn their back on the coach, even though they do not share his reasoning. “You have to win the League. It is not good for me to enter the top four. We have a very good squad. You have to give your best. I don't think the other teams have a better group than us, ”said Sergi Roberto.

I hammered his opinion along the same lines. And he clarified why he had said "it is what there is" after the defeat against Bayern. “When I said that, I was talking about casualties. El Kun, Ansu, Braithwaite and Dembélé. But in those same statements I said that we would end up competing. I did not wear this shirt to finish third. Dressed this shirt to win. The team is eager. I'm convinced. Sometimes this happens in sports ”, explained the center-back. And he went a step further: “I think the club has been riding the wave for many years. They have been turbulent years, changes of president and coaches. We all need to give peace of mind. I know it is difficult, but there are many ways to face it ”, he explained. The 3 azulgrana asked, without half measures, unity. “We can complain or we can all row in the same direction. Friction doesn't help anyone.We cannot control the noise. The players are focused on winning, ”said the Barça center-back. Koeman qualified the defiant attitude of the previous one. And he said that he had met President Joan Laporta at the hotel. "We will have time to talk," he said. “We are with the coach, he is the coach of the Barcelona first team and what we want is for things to go well for him. The coaches, not just Koeman, are highly conditioned by the results and in the case of Barcelona, ​​by the game. But Koeman is our coach and we are with him today ”, Laporta had assured.“We are with the coach, he is the coach of the Barcelona first team and what we want is for things to go well for him. The coaches, not just Koeman, are highly conditioned by the results and in the case of Barcelona, ​​by the game. But Koeman is our coach and we are with him today ”, Laporta had assured.“We are with the coach, he is the coach of the Barcelona first team and what we want is for things to go well for him. The coaches, not just Koeman, are highly conditioned by the results and in the case of Barcelona, ​​by the game. But Koeman is our coach and we are with him today ”, Laporta had assured.

The Barça coach, in any case, does not find the return to the team. Against Cádiz, Barça finished six times for the 13 of the Andalusian team. “I think, in general, it has been good. We had a lot of ball possession. We had a hard time creating situations, but we had the best two. I can not complain about the attitude of my players, "said Koeman, who ended up sent off. “In this country they expel you for nothing. Everyone saw that there were two balls on the field, except the referee, ”he said.

In the five games in the League played, he did not repeat eleven.

Yes, on the other hand, there are three footballers in whom he always trusted: Busquets, Frenkie De Jong and Memphis Depay.

And since he arrived from Sevilla, Luuk de Jong, who had not played for a minute with Julen Lopetegui, participated in all Barcelona games.

But Koeman has problems mounting.

Frenkie de Jong saw the red card.

It was the second expulsion for the steering wheel in his career, both in Spain.

He had never gone to the showers early in his country.

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