BARCELONA: Barcelona coach Quique Setien said on Wednesday he would not get involved in “Lionel Messi’s life” after the Argentine superstar became entangled in a row with the club’s sporting director Eric Abidal.
Messi hit back at Abidal on Tuesday after the Frenchman had earlier blamed slackness in the dressing room for the departure of recently-fired boss Ernesto Valverde.
In an interview with Spanish newspaper Sport, Abidal said under Valverde, who was fired in mid-January, many players had been unhappy, had not worked hard enough and had not communicated properly.
“I’m not going to get into Messi’s life, or anyone’s life,” said Setien, who replaced Valverde.
“What interests me is football, everything else are situations that I will not be able to control, therefore I do not sweat on it,” the 61-year-old added.
Setien denied he had spoken individually to the Argentina star about the incident but said it had been briefly discussed in a training session by the squad.
Messi signed his last contract extension in 2017, with his current deal running through to next year but reportedly containing a clause that could allow him to quit Barcelona in June.
Former Real Betis boss Setien said Messi’s behavior remained the same despite the falling out with Abidal.
“I have seen him smiling, I have seen him looking happy, he loves to come to training, he loves to be here and I have seen him just like he was yesterday or the day before yesterday,” Setien said.
Setien said his only focus was Thursday’s Copa del Rey quarter-final tie at Athletic Bilbao.
“The importance of tomorrow’s match, the obligation we have is to focus totally and absolutely on the match,” Setien said.
Spanish media reported later on Wednesday, citing sources close to the club, that Abidal had met with Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu who would no longer consider, as speculated beforehand, to demand the Frenchman’s resignation.
Messi on Tuesday criticized Abidal’s comments, saying that his former teammate should “name names.”
“Sincerely I don’t like doing this kind of thing but everyone has to be made responsible for their actions and what they say,” Messi said on Instagram.
“We the players in the dressing room are the first to admit it when we haven’t played well. The directors need to take their responsibilities too.
“I believe that if you talk about the players (in this way) you should name names instead of worrying everyone and encouraging rumors that are far from certain.”
Barcelona visit Real Betis on Sunday in La Liga, where they trail leaders Real Madrid by three points.
Barcelona coach refuses to get ‘into Messi’s life’ after Abidal row
https://arab.news/rmdc8
Barcelona coach refuses to get ‘into Messi’s life’ after Abidal row
- Messi hit back at Abidal after the Frenchman had earlier blamed slackness in the dressing room for the departure of recently-fired boss Ernesto Valverde
- Setien denied he had spoken individually to the Argentina star about the incident but said it had been briefly discussed in a training session by the squad
Postecoglou admits taking Nottingham Forest post a ‘bad decision’
- Postecoglou, 60, was appointed as Nuno Espirito Santo’s successor in September
- “There’s no point me blaming it on ‘I didn’t get time’ or anything,” said Postecoglou
LONDON: Ange Postecoglou has said he has only himself to blame for an extraordinarily brief reign as Nottingham Forest manager, with the Australian accepting he made “a bad decision” taking on the job with the Premier League strugglers.
Postecoglou, 60, was appointed as Nuno Espirito Santo’s successor in September.
But infamously impatient Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked Postecoglou just 39 days later, after the experienced manager lost six of his eight games in charge.
Postecoglou, reflecting on his time at Forest for the Overlap podcast, said an over-eagerness to get back into management after his departure from Tottenham Hotspur three months earlier, had been the root cause of his troubles at the City Ground.
“There’s no point me blaming it on ‘I didn’t get time’ or anything,” said Postecoglou. “I should never have gone in there. That was on me. That was a bad decision by me to go in there. I’ve got to take ownership of that.
“It was too soon after Tottenham. I was taking over at a time where they were kind of used to doing things a certain way and I’m obviously going to do things differently. I’ve got to cop that, that was my mistake. It’s no-one else’s fault.”
Postecoglou remains without a club but he has ruled out returning to Celtic, where he enjoyed a successful two-year stint from 2021-23, with the 73-year-old Martin O’Neill currently in caretaker charge of the Scottish champions until the end of the season.
“I loved Celtic, it’s a wonderful football club,” said Postecoglou, who left the Glasgow giants to join Spurs. “If I was younger, I probably would have stayed there longer. I probably would have stayed there three, four years.
“I think I could have made progress with them in Europe but at the time, it had taken me a long time to get to this sort of space, and the opportunity to join Tottenham was too good.
“In terms of going back, I don’t go back. I just don’t think that’s kind of been my career.
“Whatever the next step is, it’ll be something new, somewhere I can make an impact in, somewhere I can win things, but it doesn’t diminish the affection I have for Celtic.”
