Barcelona boss Quique Setien has apologised to the club’s players for the behaviour of his assistant coach Eder Sarabia.
A report in Cadena Cope highlights how the expressive condemnation of Sarabia for the players efforts during their defeat at Real Madrid has left them unhappy.
It is said that the players feel that the harsh words and gestures from Setien’s number two were not appropriate and were not something they would respond positively towards.
The footage shows the Barca assistant – who has been a long-term number two for Setien across multiple clubs – condemning the team’s failures and pointing out where they were making mistakes.
He swears multiple times during the footage – which, while unsavoury, is not overly unusual on the sidelines – and expresses a lot of frustration.
“We apologised to everyone, we cannot behave like that,” Setien explained to newspaper El Periodico, as cited by Marca.
“We don’t want to see things like this, we have made a mistake and we should try to avoid something like that 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 our substitutions or tactics but not our behaviour.
“It’s true that you have to understand how people are at certain times in situations because we are not all the same. Eder has a great temperament and is a massive asset, but he must control himself in these moments.
“He is trying to improve and learn that, it has happened before but it is happening less and we don’t want to see it, because it is embarrassing for us due to the reaction.
“It is shameful that a broadcaster follows your every action on the touchline – we should not have to cover our mouths all the time.”
It has sparked debate as it could be argued that Sarabia was merely doing his job as a high-ranking coach within the Blaugrana’s set-up, although others feel he was not in a position to be such a harsh critic of the game.
Barcelona lost the game 2-0 in the Spanish capital as they were overtaken by Madrid at the summit of La Liga.
