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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> Sports -> 
Barca replaces Valverde with Setien
    2020-01-15  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

BARCELONA coach Ernesto Valverde becomes the first manager at the club to be sacked mid-season since Louis van Gaal 17 years ago.

Barcelona sits in first place in La Liga and has not relinquished its lead since mid-October. While Real Madrid is tied on points, Barca’s goal difference is superior.

Barca is still alive in both the Champions League and the Copa del Rey and has good prospects in both.

A treble — only the third in the club’s history — is still a possibility.

Yet on Monday, the club fired Valverde and named former Real Betis coach Quique Setien as his replacement.

“FC Barcelona and Quique Setien have reached an agreement for the latter to become first team coach until 30 June 2022,” the Spanish champions said in a statement.

The 55-year-old Valverde, who led Barcelona to successive La Liga titles in 2018 and 2019, came under fire this season for the team’s dip in performance levels even though they top the league standings at the halfway point of the campaign.

Valverde is the first coach Barca has dispensed with in the middle of a campaign since Louis van Gaal was sacked in January 2003 with the team sitting 12th in the standings.

He also won the Copa del Rey in 2018 after taking charge in 2017.

Quique Setien has led Las Palmas to 11th in La Liga — their best finish for 40 years.

Barca is also into the last 16 of the Champions League, where they will face Napoli.

Even though he had a superb domestic record, Valverde’s standing was weakened by his failure to win the Champions League, suffering shock eliminations by AS Roma in 2018 and Liverpool in 2019 after taking a three-goal lead in each tie.

The tide appeared to turn against the coach after a 2-2 draw at struggling Espanyol,  which was followed by a 3-2 defeat by Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semifinals.

Setien, 61, coached Las Palmas from 2015 to 2017 and Real Betis last season but left by mutual consent after leading the club to a 10th-place finish.

The former Atletico Madrid and Racing Santander player is known for his possession football and attacking gameplan, which suits the way Barcelona were known for playing in the iconic Pep Guardiola era.

In the wake of Barca’s 3-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the semifinals of the Supercopa de Espana in Saudi Arabia, Valverde has been shown the door.

And there’s certainly ample evidence that this is not a vintage Barcelona team, and it wouldn’t set the world alight this spring. After all, the Atletico defeat, in which Barca gave up a late lead, should be seen against the context of a run of four league games that produced just one victory.

Draws with a rising Real Sociedad and Real Madrid were understandable; the one with cross-town rival Espanyol much less so.(SD-Agencies)

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