Why Barcelona Gave Ernesto Valverde The Boot After Topping La Liga

With Ernesto Valverde at the helm, Barca won La Liga for 2 consecutive years from 2017-19 as well as the 2017-18 Copa del Rey and 2018 Spanish Super Cup.

Barcelona are currently top of the La Liga table beating Real Madrid on point difference. So the question is why would they give him the boot??

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FAILURES

Firstly, although Barcelona have enjoyed local success in La Liga, their performance in the Champions League has been far from acceptable with the side being embarrassingly knocked out 2 consecutive times after having the first-leg advantage.

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In 2017-18 UEFA Champions League quarter-final Barcelona won the first leg 4-1 against AS Roma. It was there for expected that the second leg would be nothing but a formality for the team especially with such a huge advantage in hand.

That turned out to be far from the case as Roma came back to win the second leg 3-0 tying the aggregate score to 4-4 allowing Roma to win on away goals.

History repeated itself the following year as Barca won the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final 3-0 to Liverpool but went on to lose the second leg 4-0 meaning Liverpool won on an aggregate score of 4-3 eliminating Barca out of the Champions League tournament.

This year the Barca management are not taking any chances as the team is through to the final 16 round having won 4 of its 6 qualifying group matches and coming top of group F.

MILLIONS OF EUROS WASTED ON SIGNEES WITH NO RESULTS

Then comes the amount of money he has wasted on huge signings that have not lived up to their hype. During his tenure at Barcelona, Valverde has spent close to €400 million.

He signed Ousmane Dembele for a record €110 million from Borussia Dortmund. He then signed Philippe Coutinho for €142 million during the January 2018 transfer window.

Valverde was never able to fully utilize the two record-breaking signees with Ousmane Dembele struggling with injuries and Coutinho being loaned out to Bayern Munich just 18 months after arriving at the club.

Then in 2019, Bayern paid €120 million buy out fee for Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann who has not made any mark since joining Barcelona and is turning out to be another waste of money for the club.

THE CRUYFFIAN FOOTBALL STYLE THAT MAKES BARCELONA “BARCA”

Club supporters also feel that Valverde has taken away the style and grace of football that made Barcelona the team they have grown to love. His defensive game has taken away from the panache that made watching Barcelona playing so enjoyable and turned them into a global phenomenon.

Even in victory fans still walk away with a sense of disappointment as if feeling cheated because they never got to see the team they came out to watch. This crowd disapproval has been a major failing point for Valverde.

2019-2020 SEASON PERFORMANCE

The final straw has been Barcelona’s downward performance this season. First, they have been unable to defend their Spanish Super Cup title having being kicked out by Atletico Madrid who they last lost to in 2016. Now they find themselves under threat in La Liga as they are currently drawn on 40 points at the top of the La Liga table with Real Madrid.

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