Barcelona were a shambles yesterday, Barcelona will be a shambles tomorrow - The Warm-Up
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Updated 20/08/2020 at 07:19 GMT
Lionel Messi wants to leave Barcelona and it is little wonder: they are awful.
Lionel Messi after Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League to Bayern Munich
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
Sacking Quique Setien changes nothing
Barcelona's woes run far deeper than their manager. The club appear – from the outside looking in – in complete disarray and that disarray has festered and grown under the watch of president Josep Maria Bartomeu. Yet, the president appears to be going nowhere - well, not until the elections next year at least.
In the interim, the board have elected to lump all the blame for Barcelona's woes on the manager, sacking Quique Setien, just six or so months after they sacked Ernesto Valverde for - checks notes - having the temerity to have Barcelona sitting top of the league, after winning it the previous two seasons.
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'Barcelona's sacking of Quique Setien first of many changes'
If reports are to be believed, Valverde was relieved of his duties due to his pragmatism, as it was felt it was not befitting of the Mes Que Un Club ethos. In fairness, appointing Setien made complete sense in that context after the 61-year-old's Betis side produced some lavish football between 2017 and 2019, but perhaps that is not the context sacking and then appointing a manager mid-season should be made in.
Anyway, it did not work. Fair enough, sometimes things don't work. But to appoint Ronald Koeman as it looks certain will happen, a fairly pragmatic coach, speaks of a club in complete disarray, one lacking direction. It speaks of a club that has no overarching philosophy. It is a mess. And this mess has had one consistent thing: its board and Josep Maria Bartomeu. The Warm-Up is not saying running a club as complex and pressurised as Barcelona* is easy but the last few years have, well, been baffling.
Successful clubs have a philosophy other than to rely on their best player - in this case Lionel Messi** - to drag them through messes wrought on the club by an ineffectual board. Until Barcelona return to having some clarity of thought, some form of philosophy, they will remain in disarray.
* and ** The unusual power Messi wields at the club makes the job of president or manager that more complex and pressurised for what it is worth.
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The Barcelona Exodus: FIFTEEN players could leave – Euro Papers
Romelu Lukaku is and always was elite
Inter Milan will meet Sevilla in the Europa League final after Antonio Conte's side thumped Shakhtar Donetsk 5-0 in their semi-final.
Romelu Lukaku has now scored in 10 games on the spin in the Europa League. In fact, he has been involved in 18 goals in those 10 games - that's 14 goals and four assists.
That is some record. And he is some player. That takes his tally to 218 goals in 462 games. That is some record. And he is some player.
Yet, despite Lukaku being some player and having some record, he remains the focus of some banter merchants on the social medias. 'His first touch is usually a shot. Lolz'. Four followers. An egg as an avatar.
Lukaku has always been elite.
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Romelu Lukaku
Image credit: Getty Images
Comunicado Oficial: Lazio are fuming
David Silva was all set to sign for Lazio, so much so, that it nearly, nearly got the 'here we go' treatment from Fabrizio Romano. Nearly.
The Warm-Up is not sure whether the 'here we go' brand would have survived a false 'here we go', so happy days.
Anyway, Lazio are, according to Romano, absolutely fuming that they missed out on Silva after Real Sociedad sidled up like a sly old dog and got themselves an elite-level playmaker under the noses of the Italian side.
Here we go indeed.
HAT-TIP
This - Shakhtar Donetsk: the club shunned by their own fans - is a few days old but still very much worth a read.
The last time Shakhtar Donetsk reached a European final, a 2-1 win after extra time against Werder Bremen in the last Uefa Cup in 2009, the occasion was tinged with hubris. The day after the game, as the team celebrated with a huge rally in central Donetsk, the country’s soon-to-be-elected president Viktor Yanukovych took the stage in an orange-and- black scarf and heralded the dawn of a new, united Ukraine. Yet his presidency was to begin a fatal countdown, one that would place Donetsk at the centre of a devastating proxy war and run Shakhtar out of town for good.
RETRO CORNER
The one and only Ronaldo - sorry, Cristiano - being utterly brilliant in a Europa League semi-final.
What. A. Player.
COMING UP
More semi-finals: the underdog semi-final this time - Rasen Ball Leipzig v PSG. When will they end? (Spoiler alert: tomorrow)
Hincks, Michael, in for the quarantine-bound Ben Snowball, will take you through that jamboree.
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