Barcelona News Roundup: Barca consider surprise swoop for Tottenham star, Ronald Koeman says team has to improve despite win and more: 5 November 2020
Barcelona registered a 2-1 win against Dynamo Kyiv in the UEFA Champions League. The club is set to undergo several changes following the resignation of Josep Maria Bartomeu and his board of directors.
Without further ado, let's take a look at the top stories involving Barcelona from 5 November 2020.
Gerard Pique says changes at Barcelona are necessary
Barcelona defender Gerard Pique's interviews have become a thing now as he tends to open up about the goings-on at the club regularly. Now he has weighed in on the changes happening at Barcelona following the resignation of Josep Maria Bartomeu and his board of directors.
He said,
The club right now is how it is. It’s in a process of many changes, change I think were necessary. We needed to turn things around. It was obvious that we were in decline and every year we were a little worse.
We don’t have much time but we need it to improve. There’s never a transition year at Barcelona, you’re always obliged to win. Now we have elections and a new board will come in and we will see changes in the coming months little by little.
Things have gone well in the Champions League but in La Liga we have to change and we’re going to change. We have young players coming through, they have added dynamism to the group and to the way we play. We don’t have much time but we need it to gain confidence and keep on growing.”
Ronald Koeman says Barcelona need to improve after Dynamo Kyiv win
Speaking to the press after Barcelona's 2-1 win over Dynamo Kyiv, Ronald Koeman said that there are areas where the team has to improve. Messi scored a penalty early in the first half but the Catalans struggled to exert their control and Koeman highlighted the need to improve in these aspects. He said,
“We started the game well, quickly going 1-0 up with the penalty and with chances to score more. But little by little we lost control of the game. They created a lot of danger at moments but thanks to Marc, who was phenomenal. In the end, 2-1, complicated, above all without the ball was not good today.
“For me the problem is sometimes you can’t press ... and if you do press you leave space to play. If we press, everyone has to press, the defence high, and I think there have been doubts there. They played well and created a lot of danger.”
”In general, we’ve been OK defensively. In no game has a team created the danger that they did today. But without the ball we have to improve.”
Barcelona consider swoop for Tanguy Ndombele
Tanguy Ndombele hasn't exactly been sensational for Tottenham Hotspur after joining from Olympique Lyon. He had initially garnered a lot of attention during his time at Lyon and now Barcelona are considering making a move for the 23-year-old, as per reports.
Fabrizio Romano says that Ndombele is now a target for Barcelona as the Cules look to bring reinforcements to their ageing midfield. They had offloaded Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal and Barcelona believe that Ndombele can come and fill in and flourish in the comparatively slower La Liga.