Getty Koeman watches Barcelona in Clasico action
Ronald Koeman has come in for criticism after his first Clasico in charge of Barcelona ended in a 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid at the Camp Nou.
Second-half goals from Sergio Ramos and Luka Modric handed the bragging rights to Los Blancos and means Barcelona has now lost two of their first five La Liga matches in 2020-21.
Koeman surprised supporters by including three teenagers, Sergino Dest, Pedri, and Ansu Fati, in his starting XI. However, his decision to wait until the 81st minute to introduce substitutes as his team chased the game at 2-1 down frustrated fans and commentators alike.
Shame a soft penalty proved so important but that was a big fail for Koeman. Midfield balance wasn’t working but changes came far too late and weren’t right when they came. Real Madrid far from perfect but a step or two ahead of Barça.
Koeman evidently has no vision for Barça’s midfield and it’s completely unacceptable. This is absurdly bad management.
Koeman completely embarrassed and outplayed in El Clasico.
The win means Real Madrid bounce back from consecutive defeats to Cadiz in La Liga and Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. Meanwhile, Barca has now suffered back-to-back losses in the league and has just seven points from five games.
Follow the Heavy on Barcelona Facebook page for the latest breaking news, rumors and content!
Barca Pay the Penalty
Fede Valverde opened the scoring for Real Madrid after just five minutes, although 17-year-old Fati equalized for the hosts three minutes later. Both sides had further chances in the opening 45 minutes but went in at half-time on level terms.
Barca started the second half the brighter team but went behind went Ramos put Real Madrid 2-1 up from the penalty spot. Barca defender Clement Lenglet gave away the spot-kick with a shirt pull, but the decision to award the penalty still divided opinion among supporters.
I mean, it’s soft, Ramos has made the most of it, but Lenglet doesn’t need to have a grab of his shirt like that. Big 30 mins for Barça. Plenty of attacking options on the bench
The shirt pull would be a very soft penalty, but still technically a penalty. But Ramos shoved Lenglet first. That invalidates the argument. Should be, if anything a foul against Ramos…
@faridaem1 you can’t pull a player’s shirt especially when he doesn’t have the ball !! ramos was very smart w da7k 3la lenglet mn el akher , el penalty sa7 bas ana elmoshkela andy en nafs el situation dy msh btt7sb lma by3mloha m3 fer2 tania! da el ghayezny
Real Madrid made the game safe late on when substitute Luka Modric netted their third to put the match out of Barca’s reach and seal all three points for the visitors.
Big Week for Koeman
There’s no doubt it’s a poor result for Koeman and that he now faces a big week after suffering two straight league defeats. Barca’s next game is a tricky away fixture at Serie A champions Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The Catalan giants opened up their European campaign in midweek with a comfortable 5-1 win over Ferencvaros at the Camp Nou but will face a much stiffer test in Turin and can ill-afford another loss.
Barca then returns to La Liga action in a week’s time at Alaves. A victory will be expected at the Mendizorrotza Stadium against a side which has managed just one win in six La Liga games in 2020-21.
Koeman does have some positives he can take from his Clasico defeat. Fati scored his fifth goal of the season and continues to show he deserves to be an automatic starter for Barca despite still only being 17.
American starlet Dest also enjoyed a fine Clasico debut. The teenager reverted to right-back against Real Madrid and was one of Barcelona’s standout players. A double tackle to deny Casemiro and Karim Benzema in the first half was particularly impressive.
The teenager also had the character to front up for the post-match interview on the pitch after the full-time whistle despite being one of the most inexperienced members of the squad and having only arrived at the club last month from Eredivise side Ajax.
READ NEXT: Arthur Melo Says Emotional Goodbye to Barcelona [WATCH]