‘I am concerned about the image of the club… we cannot behave like that’: Barcelona boss Quique Setien apologises for behaviour of assistant Eder Sarabia after his No 2 was caught on camera ranting and raving on touchline during Real Madrid clash
Barcelona manager Quique Setien has apologised for the behaviour of his assistant Eder Sarabia after his No 2 was filmed cursing the team’s performance in El Clasico last week.
Images captured by Spanish television channel ‘Gol’ showed the usually mild-mannered Sarabia raging at Barca players, including Antoine Griezmann and Gerard Pique, during the 2-0 defeat by Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
But Setien was forced to apologise for his assistant’s criticism, telling Spanish newspaper El Periodico: ‘We cannot behave like that’.
Barcelona manager Quique Setien has apologised for the behaviour of assistant Eder Sarabia
Setien’s No 2 was filmed cursing the team’s performance in the El Clasico defeat last week
He said: ‘We apologised to everyone, we cannot behave like that.
‘We don’t like to see things like this, we have committed an error and we should try to avoid something like this happening again.
‘This situation has affected me a lot, because I am concerned about the image of the club. We need to take care of that image, because we can be criticised for substitutions, tactics, etc, but not for our behaviour.’
According to Gol, Sarabia raged at Griezmann’s first half failure to beat Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois by shouting: ‘Put it in Griezmann, no! Softer!’
He also responded to two Nelson Semedo errors by saying: ‘He doesn’t do anything that he should do.’
Sarabia was filmed going wild while sitting in the dugout during the defeat in the Clasico
There have been those who have criticised the assistant for how he responded to the game
But 76 per cent of Barcelona fans responding to a poll said his behaviour was ‘normal’
He then showed his frustration at midfielder Arthur Melo: ‘Again Arthur, again… f***ing …’
And he complained about Barcelona’s pressing when he said: ‘Again Benzema is able to do what the hell he likes,’ and he appears to shout at Gerard Pique: ‘S***, this is s***. These f****** long balls.’
Frenkie de Jong and Arturo Vidal also appeared to be in Sarabia’s line of fire with the crux of his complaints being how cheaply Barcelona gave the ball away.
But when Gol polled supporters, 76 per cent responded that they believed Sarabia’s reactions were ‘normal’. Only nine per cent thought they were excessive with 15 per cent labeling him a ‘show-off’.
Barcelona return to action on Saturday night against Real Sociedad, looking to keep pace with Real at the top of La Liga.
