Barcelona sack Valverde, appoint Setien as successor

FC Barcelona have shredded all their ties with their current managed Ernesto Valverde after their defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final. 

Former Las Palmas and Real Betis manager Quique Setien has replaced the 55-year old former striker as the new Barcelona boss. Setien has signed a two-and-half-year contract with Barcelona, dating to June 2022. 

"The club publicly expresses its gratitude to Ernesto Valverde for his professionalism, his commitment, his dedication and his always positive treatment towards all that make up the Barca family. We wish him luck and success in the future," the club website read. 

Valverde managed Barcelona in 163 games, managing to win 108 of them, drawing 35 and losing 20. 

The board had only renewed Valverde's contract in 2019 following the club moving into the semi-finals of the Uefa Champions League (UCL) for the first time in four years as the previous contract was supposed to run out after the 2019-20 season. 

This sees Valverde being the first manager after Louis Van Gaal in 2003 to be sacked by the club as all of his predecessors were the ones to leave the job rather being sacked. 

Valverde was appointed as Barcelona manager in July 2017 after Luis Enrique decided not to renew his contract with the board. The Basque manager's stint at the club started with a two-legged 5-1 defeat to arch-rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup in 2017 but he managed to turn it around as he managed to win the league with only one defeat and also won the Spanish Cup.

But questions arose when his side managed to lose a 4-1 lead in the Uefa Champions League (UCL) quarter-final to Roma as they lost 3-0 at Rome to get knocked out. 

Valverde won the league in his second season too but another disaster happened in Europe's premier club competition as Barcelona managed to lose a three-goal lead for a second consecutive season. In the semi-finals of the UCL, Valverde's men were up 3-0 after the first leg at home but lost 4-0 away at Anfield to crash out of the competition. To add insult to injury, Barcelona also lost the Spanish Cup final to Valencia that season to end the season with only one trophy in the cabinet. 

Criticisms of Valverde were heard since the Roma defeat as the fans blamed the manager for not upholding the club's unique style and burning out players. The criticisms reached their apex after the Anfield disaster and a poor start to La Liga this season did not help matters. The defeat to Atletico was the telling blow as the Barcelona board decided to cut all ties with the former Barcelona and Atletico Madrid striker.