Ronald Koeman has been sacked by Barcelona after overseeing their worst start to a season since the 1987-88 campaign.
They finished sixth that year – a similar season would leave them outside the Champions League and have catastrophic consequences on the club’s already fragile finances.
They are currently floundering in ninth almost closer to the relegation zone than to the top of the table.
Koeman was fired on the flight back from a 1-0 defeat to Rayo Vallecano.
The Catalans will now look to replace the Dutchman as soon as possible, with club legend Xavi Hernandez, currently with Al Sadd in Qatar, the favourite to take over.
Despite Koeman being a club legend himself during his playing days, a disappointing end to the 2020/21 LaLiga Santander campaign, coupled with an even worse start to the current season – where Barcelona find themselves ninth in the table – convinced the board that the Dutchman would not be able to turn the tide.
On October 2, ahead of the league meeting with Atletico Madrid, Barcelona president Joan Laporta had stated Koeman would continue as coach regardless of the result in an apparent vote of confidence for the under-pressure boss, yet with the situation having taken a turn for the worse over the course of the month, that position has drastically changed, therefore Koeman is Sacked by Barcelona and he is to say goodbye to the club on Thursday.
