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Barcelona Appoint Barjuan Caretaker Coach Amid Report of Xavi Agreement
Troubled Spanish top side FC Barcelona have appointed Sergi Barjuan their caretaker coach, amid a report they have reached an agreement with former midfield star Xavi Hernandez to take charge.
The 49-year-old Barjuan is a former FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid defender who is in charge of Barca’s reserve team.
He was to conduct the first training session later yesterday.
“FC Barcelona hereby announce that Sergi Barjuan, the current coach of Barça B, shall be taking provisional charge of the technical management of the senior squad,” a club statement said.
“His interim position as first team head coach shall end as soon as the club has hired a full-time head coach to replace the dismissed Ronald Koeman.
”The club said Barjuan would attend a news conference on Friday ahead of Saturday’s game against Alaves, and that club president Joan Laporta would also be present.
Barca parted ways with Koeman in the wake of Wednesday’s 1-0 league defeat against Rayo Vallecano, their fourth loss in the last six games.
Sport, a daily sports newspaper in Spain, has meanwhile reported that Barca have an agreement with club legend Xavi to take over.
The 41-year-old Xavi came through Barca’s famed academy and played for the first team from 1998 to 2015.
He won 25 titles with them, including four UEFA Champions Leagues and eight Spanish league titles.
Xavi moved on to Qatari club Al Sadd where he ended his career in 2019 and is now the coach on a contract until 2023.
However, he has a 1-million euros (1.16 million dollars) release clause and has said in the past he would like to coach Barca one day.
Sport said talks with Al Sadd were still needed, although the report suggested a final decision could come before the end of the day.
FC Barcelona and Xavi have not commented on the issue.
However, whoever gets the coaching job faces a daunting task at the struggling giants who have reported debts of more than 1 billion euros.
They have had to let the likes of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann go in the off-season.
A new talent in Pedri has arrived, but Barca sit only ninth in LaLiga and could face a group stage elimination in the UEFA Champions League.
Following are the results of Match Day 1 fixtures in the 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), played on Sunday and dates of the remaining fixtures:
Akwa United FC 1-1 Abia Warriors FC
Bayelsa United FC 1-1 Kano Pillars FC
Katsina United FC 1-1 Bendel Insurance FC
Niger Tornadoes FC 0-0 Nasarawa United FC
Shooting Stars FC 1-1 Plateau United FC
El Kanemi Warriors Vs Kwara United FC (postponed )
The following Match Day two fixtures
Would be played on Sept.
25:Ikorodu City FC Vs Enugu Rangers international FC
Enyimba international FC Vs Lobi stars FC .
(NAN)
Following are the results of remaining Match Day one fixtures played on Sunday in the 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL)Heartland FC 1-3 Enyimba international FCKwara United FC 1-2 Niger Tornadoes FCBendel Insurance FC 0-0 Rivers United FCPlateau United FC 1-0 Katsina United FCKano Pillars FC 3-0 Ikorodu City FCSunshine Stars FC 3-0 Bayelsa United FCAbia Warriors FC 0-2 Remo Stars FCNasarawa United FC 1-1 Shooting Stars FC.
(NAN)
The interim coach of the Super Eagles, Augustine Eguavoen, said his team can beat any team with the quality of players in the team.
Eguavoen stated this after his team spanked the Cheetahs of Benin Republic 4-0 in the 2025 African Cup Of Nations (AFCON) at the Godswill Akpabio stadium, Uyo, Akwa Ibom on Saturday.
“We have quality players to beat any team but we respect team anyway.
Any coach can come in and do the same job with the Super Eagles.“It is a mindset, we have the potential and how you perceived your opponent, given the information about them and then go out and do the job,“he said.
Equavoen attributed the victory to the formation adopted by the technical crew, adding that any formation could be used to ensure that the team was successful.
“We can decide to use any system. It is something we discussed and I slept over it. I know with the caliber of players that we have, we can decide to play any formation.
“Football is about you win, lose and draw, I don’t believe we have a poor result,” he said.
He, however, said that the former Super Eagles coach didn’t do a good job but it has to do with believe, what is at stake and what you want to achieve.
“Psychologically as a group, we are agreed, where we are and where we are going to be. We will definitely achieve it,” Equavoen said.
He commended the performance of the defence , describing it as superb, adding that the team had been training together for one week.
The coach said that asking six players to warm up for the second half was to buy time, adding that there was no need to rush to change.
He said the Cheetahs of Benin Republic were a good team, adding that they came with a good game plan.
Report says that Eguavoen was appointed interim coach after the deal between the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) and coach Bruno Labbadia failed.
NFF explained in a statement that it failed due to the stringent regulations of German tax authorities.(NAN)
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