Koeman talks Araujo, Puig, Pjanic, and the Super League | OneFootball

Barcelona are, surprisingly, still within a shot of the La Liga title after Real Madrid dropped points against Sevilla at home in the last round of fixtures. The next challenge on their hands is an away trip to Valencia where they will lock horns with Levante. A win could take them, temporarily, top of the table – a feat they have not achieved thus far this season.

Ahead of the game, Ronald Koeman spoke to the media as part of his pre-game presser. The Dutchman seemed optimistic about the league, saying, “I don’t think the league is out of our reach. We are in the same situation as before. There is one less game left, with Atlético ahead, but we must not think about the others but about winning our games.”

He talked about the game against Atletico Madrid, and how it unfolded over two halves: “The game against Atlético Madrid had two different faces. We weren’t well in the first half, they generated more, but in the second half we were better. We had options to open the scoring.”

The talk of the room shifted towards the UEFA Super League, to which he replied, “The Super League? I cannot comment on this issue. It is a case that falls to UEFA and I don’t know if they are capable of taking Barça out of the Champions League, but to this day I’m not interested either.”

The Video Assistant Referee has been talk of the town in Barcelona throughout the season, and Koeman has never been afraid to make a comment about the same. Today, he said, “The VAR? I don’t know when it’s a handball and when it’s not. There are times when whistles are criminal, there are times when they aren’t… And that happens in all countries, not just here.”

Ronald Araujo came on in the second half of the game against Atleti and was pretty much unstoppable. Koeman praised his namesake, saying, “Araújo? Ronald was injured for a while and it was difficult for him to reach his physical level. Now he’s fine, he played a great second half against Atlético. He can play in various positions in the defense.”

He continued to praise the youngsters in the team, saying, “We must highlight the attitude of Araújo, Mingueza, Pedri and Ilaix… At the beginning of the season nobody could imagine that these four players would have so many minutes and so many games. They have taken the opportunities that the coach has given them.”

When asked if he watched Madrid vs Sevilla, Koeman said, “I watched the first 20 minutes of Real Madrid against Sevilla, but then I switched to AC Milan against Juventus because I get nervous… I preferred to watch another game where we have no direct interest and then find out about the result.”

There was a lot of talk on social media about how Barcelona could have done with Riqui Puig against Atleti, and naturally Koeman was asked about the same in the pre-game presser: “Pjanić and Riqui Puig? We have a team in which I don’t make many changes. It depends on training, technical decisions and game systems. There are many things that influence the decisions of how many minutes they have. Those we don’t play have to be prepared.”

He ended the presser by commenting on his future at the club, saying, “The president showed me his confidence from the first day and it is him who must decide. I signed for two years here and I see myself leading this group of players next season.”

Source: BarçaTV+