Barcelona Back Ernesto Valverde After Supercopa Exit

 

Barcelona's director, Guillermo Amor, has thrown his weight behind the beleaguered head coach, Ernesto Valverde, following his recent blip.

The Catalan coach has been under constant pressure this season as a result of the club's inconsistent performances in Spain with his latest defeat to arch-rivals, Atletico Madrid set to add fuel to the fire.

The defeat which dumped the Catalan Giants out of the Spanish Supercopa means Barcelona have now lost four games this season and Amor has sought to play down suggestions Valverde was close to being sacked.

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Barca conceded twice in the final nine minutes in a 3-2 semi-final defeat to Atletico in Saudi Arabia on Thursday. and while they are top of La Liga, they have won just one of their past five games, a period which has included three draws.

However, Amor – the club's director of institutional and sporting relations – diffused rumours that Valverde was close to being relieved.

"It has bothered us a lot to lose. We continue, this is very long," Amor told Movistar+ post-match.

"There are many and very important [games]. Of this you say about Valverde, there is nothing."

After Koke's 46th-minute opener, Barca claimed the lead thanks to goals from Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann.

However, Alvaro Morata's penalty brought Atletico level before Angel Correa scored the winner just four minutes from the end to ensure their advancement to the final where they will face Real Madrid who claimed a 3-1 victory over Valencia a day earlier.

Amor bemoaned the final result, with Messi and Gerard Pique both having goals disallowed by VAR for handball and a marginal offside decision.

"When you have played football, you know that these things can happen, especially in important games with strong teams," he said.

"What you think is won, you can lose. In the summary of the game, I think we have dominated the first half.

"They advance and the two goals that were annulled indicate that we were close and we were superior."

Barcelona now have over a week to recover from the loss before they tackle Granada in La Liga on January 19.

Valverde's side remains top of the Spanish La Liga, level on points with Real Madrid, but ahead on goal difference following their 2-2 draw against Espanyol in the first game of the 2020 calendar year.