Koeman: “I was told that Messi was renewing and the next night he left”

Her coach national Netherlands, Ronald Koemanspoke in an interview about the representative group of his country, stressing that he is very happy.

In addition, the 60-year-old technician referred to Barcelona as well as his departure Lionel Messi revealing that he learned in one night that the Argentine was leaving the “Blaugrana”, while he thought he would renew.

“For me it is an honor to be a coach in my country’s national team. I was for two years but then I said that the only club that could call me was Barcelona. This time it is different, there is more free time, you don’t have a match every three days and everyone is happy, especially the players who have been selected, so the atmosphere is very good. Holland is a country that is dedicated to its national team and it’s fun.”

Did you feel indebted to your country for leaving for Barcelona?

“I think everyone understood my decision. It was in the contract that if Barcelona came they would let me go for a certain amount. There was no player who said the slightest bad thing about me.”

Although leaving for Barcelona meant leaving quite a bit of money behind.

“Yes, but we already know that at that time there were a lot of problems at the club, from covid, there was no money… During my time I had a lot of things against me. Still, if I had the chance to go back, I would. It’s a very big love that I have for Barca”.

Was such a difficult situation at the club expected?

“I knew because I had talked to them many times but I didn’t expect that much. covid played its part, we played a year without fans and that was very powerful. I also didn’t expect Messi and Griezmann to leave. I’ve been through a lot, I didn’t expect all this to happen. That’s life, you have to accept it. Too bad it only lasted a year and four months. The first year I was just the team representative for everything. I deserved more support.

In the first year, when Bartomeu took a step back, until the elections, I was the representative of the club, for everything… As a manager you have to think, train, win games. But in many things it was only me to answer questions that were not my duty. It was a good experience, but complicated. I saw a quote from Xavi where he said that there were very difficult times because of family, criticism, etc. And this is the first in the league. It is a very complicated, political club, where there are many movements… As a Dutchman it is difficult to understand why this is not the case. There are critics here, but not certain influences.”

Was the family not having a good time at such times?

“This happens to every high-level coach. It hurts me a lot because there were doubts towards me that made me sad. I believe I deserved more support from the team. They think that by being a coach they earn a lot of money… But your family, your parents, are going through difficult times. And when there’s love, it hurts more, of course.”

As the months go by do you think you left unfairly?

“What is unfair? I don’t know, sacking a manager is part of football. People from football and from within the club, technically, told me that I did a lot for the club. Even the youngsters have thanked me for their debut. In general, there is a lot of influence from the inside out. If a president leaves doubts about his coach, it’s a problem. Now that was unfair. But it’s past, I want to turn the page. It was hard, but you also learn.

If I had it to do over again, there are few things I could do differently. In the first season we won the Cup, we were leaders, and with everything that was there, we couldn’t sign, putting in young people… I think it was acceptable. The second year we lost Messi. I have done many things for the good of Barca. For example, on the last day, in the offer for Griezmann, he could have said no. But I accepted because it was good for the club.”

Did you expect Messi to leave?

“It was a surprise. They told me before the season started: “Tomorrow we have the meeting with Messi and his father, we sign and he stays”. The next day, Laporta called me to tell me: ”I see it as complicated”. And the night is gone. Messi is Barcelona, ​​he did so much for the club that he didn’t deserve to leave like this.”