It seems that Quique Setien’s time at Barcelona is going from bad to worse.
Knocked out of the Copa del Rey at Athletic Club, losing to both Valencia and Real Madrid in La Liga, and an injury list that’s making life difficult, the latest problem is of his, and his assistant manager, Eder Sarabia’s, own making.
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MARCA had previously reported that Sarabia had been picked up by cameras during El Clasico verbally abusing some of Barcelona’s players, it would appear for not doing what they had been asked.
Understandably, that didn’t go down well with the playing staff, and it’s meant that Setien and Sarabia have been forced into an embarrassing climb down.
In a separate report, MARCA note, citing El Periodico, that both the coach and his assistant have apologised for the outbursts.
“We’ve already made the apologies we’ve needed to make,” Setien said.
“And especially me because, in the end, it’s my fault. I have to control these things.
“[…] We can be criticised because you make bad substitutions, because you play bad games… For whatever, but not behaviour.
“[…] Eder is a kid with a great temperament, which is great for many things, but he has to learn to control himself. […] “It’s more and more sporadic, but… But it’s something we don’t like.
“It’s an issue that Eder is trying to solve […] But we’re on the bench of a club that you represent and your behaviour should be flawless.”
With the other issues affecting the club, which one can infer would also surely also affect morale, this is the last thing the Catalans needed.