The assistant coach of former Barcelona boss Quique Setien has claimed that the club’s Champions League loss against Bayern Munich was the result of “many years and many things that were not done well.”
The Blaugrana confirmed Setien’s sacking back in August following Barcelona’s 8-2 Champions League defeat against Bayern Munich, which proved to be his final game in charge.
The Cantabrian only oversaw 25 matches at the helm with his side winning on 16 occasions, drawing four matches and losing five, and was replaced by Ronald Koeman prior to this season getting underway.
Now, Setien’s number two Eder Sarabia has spoken about the defeat and believes that it was a culmination of long-term trends at the club.
Sarabia explained in an interview with Marca: “In the Champions League, after playing a great return game against Napoli, Bayern were next. In that game it was evident, as everyone knows, that the outcome was a consequence of many years and many things that were not done well. But we are very calm and proud of the work we did.
“I do not have nightmares about Bayern because there were many things that were not in our control. You analyse it and it is undoubted that they were better, they had a great day although we also had our moments. I remember one from Luis Suárez, another when Busquets hit the post … the game could have changed.
“But that was a consequence of many things in the past, but we look forward. There are players like Piqué who have come out and have explained things well. When you have not done things well for so long, these kinds of things happen. Sometimes it is good to hit rock bottom to lift your head. It was our turn. It is a shame what happened, but we do not have any grudges.”
Sarabia also went on to analyse their time at the club, claiming that despite a lack of trophies and a damaging end to the season, there are no regrets.
He claimed that there were “very positive things from all the games” and believes that it was Real Madrid’s run of 10 victories at the end of the season that was crucial in the outcome of the title.
“When we go to the teams, everyone knows why they signed us,” he added. “It is because of a specific way of playing and understanding football. From the beginning we try to do what we know and what we feel. And many times we succeed. It is true that in many games we lacked continuity, but reviewing all the games, we got very positive things from all the games.
“It is true that we lacked that point of success in front of goal at certain moments and that we faced a Madrid that after confinement was very reliable and did not fail, who were better than us.”
