Van Gaal skips training as Barca inquest continues
Contrary to expectations, Barcelona coach Louis van Gaal did not take the Catalan club's training session on Sunday morning.
Contrary to expectations, Barcelona coach Louis van Gaal did not take the Catalan club's training session on Sunday morning.
He spent just 20 minutes discussing Saturday night's 4-2 defeat at home at Valencia with Barca's first team squad and then chose to spend the rest of the morning in the dressing room, talking individually with players and other coaches.
Van Gaal's position at Barcelona has became precarious, to say the least, following their seventh defeat of the season.
Many were surprised to see the former Dutch national coach emerge from a two hour meeting with club president Joan Gaspart after Saturday's game still in charge of the team.
Barca are mired in the middle of the Spanish first division and on course for their worst finish to the season since 1942, when they finished 12th.
The 80,000 spectators in the Nou Camp on Saturday were in no doubt that van Gaal should resign or be sacked, howling their derision at the result and waving white hankerchiefs, the traditional sign of disapproval.
Thousands of spectators later filled the vestibules of the Nou Camp chanting, "Barca si! Gaspart, No!"
In the melee a number of windows were broken and several journalists were assaulted, although there were no serious injuries.
The two Barcelona-based national sports dailies on Sunday were equally unequivocal in their verdict that van Gaal should go.
"Well, what now Mr Gaspart," said Sport on its front page. "For the good of Barca he (van Gaal) has to go."
El Mundo Deportivo leads with the words, "out, out. He can't continue a minute more."
"Not even the worst enemy of Barcalona could have imagined that things could have got so bad," commented the Barcelona-based mainstream national daily La Vanguardia on Sunday.
Van Gaal, at least publicly, still has the support of many of the players.
"We still have confidence in him and from the outset, he has not been responsible for this. Nobody in the squad believes he is at fault," commented Barcelona's Spanish international midfielder Xavi Hernandez on Sunday.
"We are the ones on the field. It is the players who have got ourselves into this position and we would be wrong if we thought otherwise," added Xavi.
However, with the next two matches being tricky away trips to Celta Vigo and Atletico Madrid, few people are betting that van Gaal will still have a job at Barcelona this time next month.