Sunday’s match between Barcelona and Valencia looked to have an added bit of spice with Ronald Koeman set to return to his old club, but after his sending off against Granada that won’t come to pass.
After being shown a red card for dissent, though Koeman denied the charge in his press conference, insinuating that it was the fourth official who had insulted him, the Dutchman will not be able to coach his team from the sidelines.
Koeman didn’t have a very successful time during his spell at Valencia, despite winning he Copa del Rey. He managed to spark the ire of many of the club’s more important players with some of his decisions.
“It’s not the best memory I have in my career,” Koeman said ahead of the first clash with Valencia this season. “It’s a complicated place, and in 15 years there have been many coaching changes. There seems to be a lack of ability to work calmly there.”
Joaquin was another who didn’t bite his tongue when talking about Koeman‘s time as Valencia coach.
“It was not the most beautiful experience of my sporting career,” Joaquin told El Larguero.
“It was not a pleasant experience, but as I always say: one has to live with everything and what happened at that time. I do not want to talk about this issue because honestly it hurts me what happened there, I had a bad time.”
Before adding that he wouldn’t appoint Koeman as a “kitman” at the club.
That said, he will not return to his 2007/08 home, and it remains to be seem what punishment is imposed following the referee’s report on the Granada match.
After Koeman was sent to the stands on Thursday, he was in constant communication with his assistant Alfred Schreuder via mobile phone.
