Following Barcelona’s painful exit from the Champions League, many questions have been asked about the leadership at the club. Every level of management is under intense scrutiny like never before – from the boardroom, coaching staff, and even players. The Current manager Quique Setien has been drawing a lot of fire in recent weeks. However, he has overseen Barcelona’s first season without a trophy since the late 2000s. He may have been appointed in January and his recent run of results are about to see him join a not-so-distinguished list at the Catalan club – that is, the most unsuccessful managers to lead Barcelona.
Quique Setien
So, where did it go wrong for Setien? Well, where do we start? When he arrived at the club in January, it was seen as a new dawn for the club. He was known for developing teams that play exciting, expansive football and with the amount of talent at Barça how hard could it be, right? Defeats to Athletic Bilbao in the Copa Del Rey and to Real Madrid in March’s Classico quickly caught everyone’s attention. The result against Bayern Munich was the final straw. So, how does he measure up to others?
Ernesto Valverde
Setien’s predecessor takes his place among this ‘elite’ group. It seemed that after Pep Guardiola left the Catalan club, it lost some of its magic. The problem is, he walked into a team that was more than capable and had a world of talent. Yes, he had just lost Neymar, but there were lots of very talented replacements to step in. it was a combination of the wrong tactics and bad results such as allowing Roma and Liverpool to come from 3-0 down in the Champions League one season after the other.
Louis Van Gaal
Right from the start, Van Gaal’s second spell in charge of Barcelona was doomed. His tactics and approach to the team looked incredibly dated as he tried to motivate his squad – none of his team looked interested. Things were not helped by all the external pressure coming from the fans who expected only the best from the Dutchman. He only won six games and left the team on the brink of relegation.
Llorenc Ferrer
Ferrer took charge in May 2000 and the warning signs were clear right from the beginning. Barcelona had just lost Luis Figo to Real Madrid and Marc Overmars had been brought in to replace him. Ferrer struggled to get his team playing for him and clearly Figo had left a huge gap at the heart of the Barça squad. They struggled to find winning ways in European competitions after defeats in the Champions League and UEFA Cup.
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