BARCELONA fans are calling for boss and club legend Ronald Koeman to be sacked after playing Gerard Pique as a STRIKER.
The Spanish club are struggling for goals after allowing star forwards Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann to leave in the summer.
Barca needed a 90th-minute equaliser against Granada on Monday evening to secure a 1-1 draw and maintain their unbeaten start in LaLiga.
A late goal from defender Ronald Araujo spared Koeman’s blushes but the manager was still heavily criticised for the team’s woeful performance.
#KoemanOUT was trending on Twitter throughout Monday evening and many were perplexed as to why Pique was playing up front.
The Spanish defender was brought on in the 75th minute and did make an impact, controlling the ball in the box for Gavi, 17, to assist the goal.
And Pique has played as a striker before, with Pep Guardiola shoving him up front in Barca’s Champions League defeat to Inter Milan in 2010.
But fans were still furious with Barca’s display, leaving Koeman to defend his players and their prospects for this season.
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As quoted by the Daily Mail, Koeman said: “If you see the squad list today do you really think we can play tiki-taka?
“Barca right now is not the Barca of eight years ago.
“We play the Barca way but we don’t have the speed in wide areas because we have Coutinho who cuts inside and Demir who doesn’t reach the byline much.
“When Ansu Fati and [Ousmane] Dembele come back then we will be different but they are not fit so we have to find alternatives.”
Monday evening’s result leaves Barcelona seventh in LaLiga, five points behind leaders and rivals Real Madrid with a game in hand.
It also comes just six days after Koeman’s team were thrashed 3-0 at home by Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
