BARCELONA – Joan Laporta wasted no time on his first day as Barcelona’s president-elect and, as promised the day before, went with former club vice-president Rafael Yuste to the club’s Ciudad Deportiva to meet in person with Ronald Koeman and the first team, to whom he sent a message of optimism and confidence before his trip to Paris, where on Wednesday he will have to face PSG in the second stage of the eighth round of the Champions League.
Laporta had a short personal discussion with the Dutch coach, who started out of the locker room and continued on his way to the training ground, where he confirmed his full confidence and summoned him for a next working meeting in which there are solid foundations. now facing the future, a request that Koeman had clearly repeated in recent weeks.
If his meeting with the team was close, he was particularly affectionate with Leo Messi, whom he sincerely embraced and thanked him directly for his participation in the elections. They did not talk about the Argentine’s future, nor did they organize a meeting to discuss the renewal, but the image of the rapprochement between the two showed an obvious optimism.
Between optimistic and reckless, with excessive euphoria, Laporta closed the celebration of his electoral victory on Sunday evening with a proclamation of the house brand. “Let’s go to Paris to see if we can return!”, Shouted the new president amid the emotion of his closest … And what could be understood as a toast in the sun was repeated on Monday in the sports city. “If we did it once, we can do it again,” said the manager, who, being very close to Koeman and the team, revealed his blind confidence in them.
Barcelona must overcome in Paris a 1-4 advantage that PSG obtained in the first round of the round of 16, with a hat trick by Kylian Mbappé at the Camp Nou. Laporta referred to “La Remontada”, the aforementioned advance against PSG itself in the second round of 2017, when they fell 0-4 at the Parc des Princes, but threw themselves 6-1 back home.
“I know they are able to do it, but more than anything, I know they will go to the competition,” Laporta was transferred to the locker room, in an unequivocal message, which was very well received by footballers, many of whom In addition to Messi, he ran in the elections on Sunday.
After his meeting with the first team, Laporta continued his tour of Ciudad Deportiva, talking to Barça B players, especially his coach Javier García Pimienta, visiting the women’s team players and going to the pavilion to talk to Pau Gasol. who on the same Monday underwent a medical check-up after signing for the Barça club