Barca pledges big changes as Martino quits
Print Edition
BARCELONA is focusing on a sweeping rebuilding effort after the Catalan giant ended the season without major silverware for the first time in six years and coach Gerardo Martino quit.
Barcelona needed to beat leader Atletico at home in its final game on Saturday to secure a fifth La Liga title in six years but could only manage a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp and finished three points adrift of the Madrid club.
Atletico knocked it out in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and it lost to Real Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey, a disappointing return for the world’s second-richest club by income that prompted Martino’s resignation midway through a two-year contract.
“We have not achieved our objectives and we cannot be satisfied,” president Josep Bartomeu said in an interview with Spanish television broadcaster TV3. “We will go into a period with profound changes.
“There are some players that will not continue but our philosophy won’t change.”
With Martino gone, the way is clear for Barcelona to appoint Luis Enrique, who stepped down last week after a successful season coaching Celta Vigo, as the Argentine’s replacement.
A former Barcelona and Spain midfielder, Enrique was filmed last week by Spanish TV at his home meeting with sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta and he is widely expected to be named in the coming days.
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