Barcelona officially hires Ronald Koeman as coach

Barcelona, August 19

Barcelona will try to end one of the worst crises in club history with Ronald Koeman as its coach.

Barcelona officially announced a deal with Koeman on Wednesday, a day after club president Josep Bartomeu had said the Dutchman accepted the coaching offer and only details needed to be sorted out.

The official announcement comes five days after the team’s humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals.

Barcelona said the former defender’s deal runs through June 2022.

Koeman replaces the fired Quique Setién, who stayed only 25 matches on the job after taking over from Ernesto Valverde in January.

Barcelona said Koeman will be officially introduced later Wednesday.

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“The Dutchman brings more than 20 years of experience as manager and eight trophies on his CV,” the club said.

Koeman had been coaching the Dutch national team since 2018, and previously coached in the Premier League, the Spanish league, the Dutch league and the Portuguese league.

The 57-year-old Koeman began his coaching career as an assistant with Barcelona in the late 1990s.

As a player, Koeman helped Barcelona clinch its first European title by scoring an extra-time winner in a final against Sampdoria at Wembley Stadium nearly two decades ago.

“The blaugrana legend, hero of Wembley, the man who handed Barça their first-ever victory in the European Cup returns to Camp Nou,” Barcelona said. AP