'Barcelona lives in the past' - Ronald Koeman urges Barca to move on from 'Tiki-taka'

Barcelona is not the same force in European football as before. Meanwhile, Koeman has urged the side to move on from its past tradition of 'Tiki-taka' football and 4-3-3 formation.

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Spanish giants Barcelona might be a leading force in La Liga and all of Spain. However, its dominance in Europe has diminished in the last couple of years. While it was during the UEFA Champions League (UCL) in 2019-20 when it was hammered 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the quarterfinal, it was relegated to the UEFA Europa League (UEL) last season, which it failed to win. Notably, the previous season was Barca's first without its Argentine superstar, Lionel Messi, who moved to French champion Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). Meanwhile, former Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman feels that the Catalan is stuck in the past, and it's time to move on from its tradition and adapt to the new football.

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Talking to Esport3, Koeman commented, "I am in favour of dominating the game. If you play with three central defenders, you cannot say it is a defensive system. With this system for three or four months, we played the best games in recent years. The clearest example was the [2021 Copa del Rey] final against Athletic."

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"Barcelona lives in the past, from 4-3-3 to Tiki-taka. Football has changed. Now it's faster, more physical. You can't live in the past if you have Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi, who they took from me. It was a tough one to take," Koeman was further quoted as saying.

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After Koeman left Barcelona, former club legend Xavi took control of the things, as the side managed to have an average season, finishing second in the La Liga. In the other tournaments, it reached the pre-quarters of the Copa del Rey, followed by the Supercopa de España semis, UCL group stage and the UEL quarters.