Henrik Larsson has spoken about the chaotic 15 months he spent at Barcelona as assistant manager, criticising the club president, Joan Laporta, for a lack of leadership over the handling of Ronald Koeman.
The Swede, who made two assists as Barcelona came from behind to beat Arsenal in the 2006 Champions League final, joined the club’s coaching staff in August 2020 and was there for a period that included the pandemic, a change of president and the departure of Lionel Messi.
“Of course it was turbulent,” he told the Swedish website fotbollskanalen. “During the first season it was all good until March when we lost to Granada at home. After that we felt that there was less support from upstairs, after Laporta become president. And that is how it continued until the summer. We went on our summer holidays and I didn’t know whether I would carry on the following season.
“We got a decision on that very late. That’s a shame. For me it doesn’t matter too much but to treat Ronald Koeman like that, he did not deserve that. After all the work we had done, the clean out that Ronald had done to make things possible, then I don’t think he deserved not being told [about his future].”
Larsson, who helped look after the young players coming through, as well as all the forwards, said Messi leaving the club obviously had a big effect on everyone at the club, but that it could have been handled better.
“You never thought that Messi would leave the club and it had an effect on the whole squad. It was a tough time but as a coach you have to try to turn off the outside noise and know that you are there to work. There were days when [we] went there and didn’t know whether it was our last or whether we would continue. That could have been easily avoided but that would have demanded much better leadership than what Laporta showed.”
Several young players came through under Koeman, and Larsson is confident the work he and the Dutchman did has given Barcelona something to develop. “There were a lot of players Koeman and I promoted to the first team, players who will be great for Barcelona in the future. Ronald did a fantastic job in giving young players a chance. He has given Barcelona a good foundation to build on.”
