It is already a tradition that Ronald Koeman, former Barcelona coach and current Netherlands coach, shares his impressions about the Barcelona world while presenting the Koeman Cup, his golf tournament that this year celebrates its fourth edition. It will be played on July 18 and 19 at the Barcelona golf club in Sant Esteve Sesrovires. Its profits will go to the Cruyf Foundation.
Koeman is not hiding. Clear and sincere, he spoke about Xavi’s Barça and also about Joan Laporta, with whom he would not go to have a coffee due to the complicated coexistence they had at the Camp Nou for just over a year. “There are very difficult times as a coach and even more so if you don’t have a president to help you. If Laporta has learned anything in this new stage it has been how he should protect his coach compared to how he did it with me,” said the former coach who understands Xavi’s decision to leave the club next summer. “He has experienced a very complicated situation. It happened to me and with less help than he has,” Koeman recalled.
To close the chapter on Xavi’s goodbye, Koeman did point out that he does not believe that Laporta told him that he did not have to leave at the time when the coach decided to announce his departure at the end of January after the defeat with Villarreal. “But I know Xavi and I know that he has suffered a lot, hopefully before he leaves more joy like yesterday’s,” he said, referring to Barcelona’s victory at the Parc des Princes against Luis Enrique and Mbappé’s PSG. . “It’s a great result, but there’s still a game left. Barça was very good after the first 5 or 10 minutes and deserved to win the game. They knew how to stop the PSG players, especially Mbappé, but as I said, although one “A lot of it is done, there is still one game left,” insisted Koeman, who insisted that, despite the good result, “there is still a lot of work to do to make it the great Barça of yesteryear again.”
Precisely in Paris there was extra fuel for Barça and for Xavi when they heard Luis Enrique say in the preview that he best represented the Barça DNA. “These are words that are out of place, even though on the day of the game they seemed to be very good friends,” Koeman said, referring to the image that was experienced in Paris when, before the game and as a joke, Luis Enrique approached Xavi with the intention of punching him that turned into a hug.
“I don’t know if there is a written paper of what the Barça DNA is. For me, it is winning titles. There are only three people who have this DNA. Johan Cruyff is the first who changed a lot in this sense playing with wingers and a football attractive. The second is Pep. The best football in Barça’s history has been with Pep. And one is missing: it is Messi. If you have Messi, there is no need to talk about DNA. He is the best of all time,” Koeman said.
Finally, Koeman claimed the role of the young people of FC Barcelona. Above all he referred to Pau Cubarsí: “he plays in a very important position for the team, he is a cold boy who never seems to get nervous. He has to continue improving and training a lot, but everything indicates that he will have a great future,” he predicted.
