Laporta on Koeman sacking: "Barcelona were drifting dangerously"

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said on Friday that "results" were the reason Ronald Koeman was fired earlier this week after the 1-0 loss to Rayo Vallecano.

"I would like to make a small reference to Ronald," Laporta said. "We're are very grateful, he took on the team in a very difficult moment, he always put the club first and he's still a legend here.

"He leaves with the Copa del Rey in his honours as Barça coach. If he's not continued, it's because results have made the decision. The situation was unsustainable and, given that, we couldn't allow our aspirations to weaken, which are to win everything.

"It is not going to be easy, but we're alive in all three competitions."

On the agreement to rescind Koeman's contract, Laporta added: "The relationship with Koeman is good, at least for our part. He saw the effort we made in showing him confidence. He understood it was down to results. The recision is going well, we will respect the rights of all parties."

Laporta also conceded the decision to fire Koeman arrived too late.

"Maybe we should have made the decision before and I take responsibility for that," he said. "If we analyse it with a cool head, we beat Valencia and Dynamo Kiev, but then the situation became unsustainable. We were drifting dangerously."