La Liga
Turmoil in Barcelona as board holds emergency meeting with Koeman’s sack top on the agenda
Barcelona officials including president Joan Laporta are believed to have discussed the possibility of sacking under pressure coach Ronald Koeman until 4am following Wednesday night’s humbling Champions League defeat to Benfica.
Despite awful circumstances out of his control, pressure has been building on Koeman all season and a 3-0 defeat in Lisbon was only the latest in a string of poor results on the pitch.
According to SPORT, Koeman’s time has run out – they say his ‘credit is exhausted’ – and several board members held an emergency meeting immediately upon returning from Lisbon.
It is said that president Laporta, who has pleaded with fans to stick with Barça and be patient in a series of videos published on social media, headed straight to the club’s base at Ciutat Esportiva along with vice-president Rafa Yuste, football director Mateu Alemany and adviser Enric Masip.
The meeting was said to have lasted until 4am and the subject of discussion was whether Koeman will still be Barcelona coach by the weekend when the team visits Atletico Madrid.
At this moment in time, it is not clear whether a firm decision about his future was reached.
Speaking to the press immediately after the Champions League defeat, players including Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets appeared to defend Koeman, with the former claiming a change in coach ‘won’t solve anything’.
Should Koeman be dismissed, Camp Nou legend Xavi is already one of the favourites to be approached. Current Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez is another. Laporta is also said to be an admirer of Andrea Pirlo, who was sacked by Juventus after one season in charge.
Sacking Koeman will cost already cash-strapped Barça, whose salary cap for this season was revealed this week to be €250m less than last season and just a fraction of Real Madrid’s.
The Dutchman is believed to have paid his own buyout clause when he left his job as Netherlands national team coach in 2020, but would be entitled to have that €6m figure refunded by the club if his contract is not extended into a third season until 2023.
Barcelona said their request for a permit to return to the Camp Nou for Sunday’s LaLiga match against Real Sociedad has been denied, with the city council highlighting safety and security issues with the revamped venue.
Barca had been hoping to return to a reduced-capacity Camp Nou with 27,000 spectators but have failed to obtain the necessary permits from Barcelona City Council.
Barca will instead host the match at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Montjuic, where they played during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with renovations at Camp Nou now nine months behind schedule.
“We have spotted different elements that need to be fixed and have an impact in the safety and security of the stadium,” chief of civil protection Sebastia Massague said at a city council meeting.
Barca had to begin their LaLiga home campaign at the Estadi Johan Cruyff in their own training complex, where only 6,000 fans attended their match against Valencia on September 14, after a Post Malone concert left the Lluis Companys pitch in poor condition.
“The club is currently working on the new amendments that the council has shared today,” Barca said in a statement.
On Friday, the Catalan club also announced that their Champions League group stage match against Paris St Germain on October 1 would also take place at the Lluis Companys.
Barca are second in LaLiga, trailing leaders Real Madrid by five points but having played a game fewer.
-Reuters
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Villarreal midfielder Thomas Partey on Wednesday appeared in a London court and pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault involving three women.
Partey, a Ghana international, is accused of five counts of rape relating to two women, plus a charge of sexual assault against a third woman, between April 2021 and June 2022.
The alleged offences took place when Partey played for Premier League soccer club Arsenal. He left the club this summer and signed for Spain’s Villarreal.
The 32-year-old appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth and enter his not guilty pleas.
Partey was released on bail ahead of his trial, which was listed for Nov. 2, 2026 and is due to take between six and eight weeks.
He was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59.2 million) in 2020 and became a key member of the English side’s first team, before his contract expired at the end of June.
Partey played for Villarreal in their Champions League game against Arsenal’s bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.
He came on as a second-half substitute and was booed loudly by the Spurs fans every time he touched the ball.
-Reuters
Villarreal and Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey, who has been charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, walks outside Southwark Crown Court, in London, Britain, September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska
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Real Madrid on Tuesday denounced plans to stage a LaLiga match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, warning the proposal could undermine football’s competitive balance and vowing to petition global governing bodies to block the move.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on Monday approved the December 20 fixture at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which could become the first LaLiga match held abroad and the first European league fixture staged in the United States.
“Real Madrid wish to express to its members, supporters and football fans in general its firm rejection of the proposal,” the club said in a statement, revealing they have already urged FIFA, UEFA and Spain’s Higher Sports Council (CSD) to intervene.
The club accused the RFEF of making its decision “without informing or consulting the clubs participating in the competition” and argued that staging the match in Miami “violates the essential principle of territorial reciprocity” in home-and-away league formats.
Real further stated that the move would “alter the competitive balance” and grant “an unfair sporting advantage” to the clubs involved.
The club also warned that approving the proposal could compromise sporting integrity and “set an unacceptable precedent,” insisting any change of this nature should require “the express and unanimous agreement of all the clubs participating in the competition”.
The plan still requires approval from UEFA, US Soccer, CONCACAF and ultimately FIFA before LaLiga President Javier Tebas can realise his long-held ambition of taking Spanish football to the U.S.
-Reuters
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