After two competitive defeats, FC Barcelona were unable to win again. In the Spanish league, the Catalans only got one point in a 1-1 (0-0) draw at FC Valencia on Saturday (December 16, 2023).
The team around German national team captain Ilkay Gündogan may be increasingly losing sight of the goal of successfully defending their title. The master’s lead by the Portuguese Joao Felix (55th) was equalized by Hugo Guillamon (70th). Gündogan was in the starting line-up, as was Bayern Munich’s former top scorer Robert Lewandowski.
The day before, Barcelona lost 4-2 at home against leaders FC Girona, and last week there was another defeat at Royal Antwerp in the Champions League. Barca’s rivals can thus extend their lead on Sunday and Monday. Should Real Madrid win their home game against Villarreal FC, as did the surprise team Girona against Deportivo Alaves, the two clubs would already be seven and nine points ahead of the Catalans.
Coach dismissal in Seville
The situation at Sevilla FC is even more dramatic. Just a few minutes after the 3-0 home defeat against Getafe FC, the reigning Europa League winners fired their coach Diego Alonso. The Andalusians, who were in danger of relegation, announced this shortly after the game. After their seventh defeat of the season, Sevilla are in 16th place in the table with just 13 points. There was no information yet about a successor.
The Uruguayan Diego Alonso only took office at the beginning of October as the successor to Jose Luis Mendilibar. Under his leadership, Sevilla won the Europa League in the final against AS Roma last May. In the current Champions League competition, the traditional club was eliminated from European business last Wednesday as fourth in the group without a win.