FC Barcelona sack Quique Setien, announce 'restructuring' of first team

Setien departs after just seven months in charge of the Barca first team, following the shameful 2-8 loss to Bayern Munich last week in the Champions League. The Catalan club finished the season trophy-less for the first time in 12 years.

Image credits: Twitter/@QSetien

Madrid: FC Barcelona have sacked coach Quique Setien following last week's 2-8 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.

The club confirmed the decision in a communique issued on Monday following an emergency directors' meeting that was called in the wake of the crushing defeat.

"The board of directors have agreed that Quique Setien is no longer the first-team coach. This is the first decision within a wider restructuring of the first-team which will be agreed between the current technical secretary and the new coach, who will be announced in the coming days," confirmed the FC Barcelona website.

Setien had joined Barca as coach on January 13 this year. During his seven months in charge, the Cantabrian coached the first team in 25 matches: 19 in the league, three in the Champions League and three in the Copa del Rey. The breakdown of his results was 16 wins, four draws and five defeats.

Barca were knocked out of the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey by Athletic Bilbao in February and Friday's humiliation against Bayern means the club ends the season without a trophy for the first time in 12 years.

Former Barcelona defender Ronald Koeman, who is currently the coach of the Dutch national team, is the favourite to replace Setien.