Getty Ronald Koeman during Barcelona's defeat to Benfica.
Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman discussed his future at the Camp Nou after Wednesday’s Champions League defeat to Portugal at the Estadio da Luz amid continued speculation he will be fired.
The Dutchman insisted he feels supported by his players but does not know if he still has the backing of the Barcelona board and club president Joan Laporta, as reported by Marca.
“I feel supported by my players and the attitude. I don’t know about the rest. I don’t know about the club,” he said. “I can’t say anything about my future because I don’t know how the club thinks in that sense. I don’t want to answer any more questions about this because it’s not in my hands. We’ll see.”
The result leaves Barcelona winless after their first two group matches in the Champions League and Koeman knows that leaves him vulnerable, as reported by Mundo Deportivo.
“For any coach it is difficult to be at Barça if you lose two Champions League games, it is a delicate situation,” he said. “You need to try to change things, give the team time. There are physically stronger teams and what we have to do is play our way, have the ball and create chances, and we have done that, but if you don’t score, you don’t win.”
Bayern Munich currently top the group with six points after hammering Dynamo Kiev 5-0 in Wednesday’s other group fixture. Barcelona now go on to play the Ukrainian champions home and away and will need six points from the two games if they are to have any chance of making the knockout stages.
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Busquets: Barca Must Stay Positive
Meanwhile, captain Sergio Busquets has urged his side to stay positive despite yet another embarrassing defeat in Europe. The midfielder feels his side aren’t yet out of contention in Group E, as reported by UEFA.
“It’s difficult to explain where we are. Games are won in both penalty areas and we weren’t decisive at either end. We conceded far too early but then we played well, created chances but we didn’t score and if you let good opponents off the hook they’ll take advantage of that,” he explained. “But we are still only two games into the group and we need to focus on fighting back. We need to beat Dynamo Kyiv twice and watch what our rivals do. There’s a long road left in this group and we have to try to stay positive.”
Barcelona went behind with just over two minutes on the clock when Darwin Nunez capitalized on some sloppy defending to score the opener. However, the Catalan giants ought to have equalized when Frenkie de Jong teed up Luuk de Jong but the Dutchman managed to miss from close range.
A goal from Rafa Silva and a Nunez penalty wrapped up the win for Benfica, while the visitors ended the game without a single attempt on target. However, Busquets feels his team did still manage to create chance against Jorge Jesus’s side.
“When we pushed up in the match Benfica broke and went one-on-one against our centre-halves. Two goals came that way,” he added. “We had chances but I’m not too sure if we got any of them on target. Statistics only say so much – if we didn’t put one on target that still doesn’t mean we didn’t create good opportunities.”
Wednesday’s result continues Barca’s struggles in Europe. The Catalans have not won any of their last five outings in the Champions League and have scored just two goals during that run.
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