Quique Setién has been appointed as a new manager of FC Barcelona after the Catalans decided to sack Ernesto Valverde. Barcelona and Quique Setién have reached an agreement to become the first-team coach until 30 June 2022.
Image source: fcbarcelona.com screenshot
Ernesto Valverde has a contract with Barca until June 2020, but Barça decided to hire new manager. During his manager’s career with Blaugrana, Valverde leads the team on 145 matches, managed to win 97, draw 32 and lost 16 matches in all competitions, goal difference 339:128.
FC Barcelona share the top of LaLiga with Real Madrid and the main goal for Quique Setién is to secure the title and try to make something big in the UEFA Champions League.
Who is Quique Setién?
61-year-old Quique Setién has started his manager career in Racing Santander 2001, while two years later he joined Poli Ejido and stayed there until 2003. An interesting fact is that he became the manager of The Equatorial Guinea national football team 2006, but he stayed there for only three months. Later he was the first-team coach Logroñés, Lugo and Las Palmas, while in the last two seasons he was the manager of Real Betis.
As a player, Setién spent in Racing Santander over 12 seasons in two separate spells. He also was a part of Atlético Madrid where he won the Spanish Super Cup.
Why FC Barcelona sacked Ernesto Valverde?
The main reason could be very poor results in the last two seasons, especially in the Champions League. In the season 2017/2018 AS Roma eliminated FC Barcelona in the Quarter-finals of UCL, while last season Liverpool smashed them at Anfield 4:0 at the second leg of the semi-finals.
