MADRID, July 7 — “Barcelona haven’t thrown in the towel”, read the front page of Mundo Deportivo after a night that offered hope to the team and a lifeline for their coach Quique Setien. Setien has been in charge for only three months of competitive football but looked likely to be...
Barcelona coach Quique Setien with Lionel Messi during a drink break in the game against Villarrel at the Estadio de la Ceramica July 5, 2020. — Reuters picafter a night that offered hope to the team and a lifeline for their coach Quique Setien.
Frustrated with the lack of direction at the club, Lionel Messi halted talks about extending his contract beyond 2021 and his current plan is now to leave, said Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. Amid the chaos at Barcelona, he has increasingly looked like a bystander, “a passenger” according to Antoine Griezmann’s father, demonstrated all too literally by his lack of influence in team talks.
Free-flowing, dynamic, confident, it was the team’s best performance under Setien and perhaps their most complete all season. And Setien was bold, dropping Messi back into a more central attacking position behind Griezmann and Suarez, who was then taken off after an hour with the result still not yet secure.
Removing Setien this summer would be another admission of failure for Barca, who would have to pay compensation they cannot afford and find a replacement for a job that might prove difficult to promote.
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