Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman sent off as struggling Barca held to another draw

Everything seems to be going from bad to worse for FC Barcelona as they were held to another draw this time around; it was a 0-0 draw to Cadiz. The draw leaves them in the seventh position on the table, and their struggles continue. Barcelona were reduced to 10 men in the 65th minute when Frenkie de Jong slid clumsily into Alfonso Espino in an attempt to salvage a loose touch; he was shown a second yellow card followed by a red. Both teams were then unable to find a goal. For Cadiz, it is a point gained but the result is more frustrating for Barcelona as they look at it as two points dropped.

Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman was also shown a red card towards the end of the match for protesting the referee's decision to show Sergio Busquets a yellow for kicking the ball away. There were two balls on the pitch, and Busquests passed one of them at a Cadiz player who already had the other ball, and when Koeman complained, he was given his marching orders to the stands. The Dutchman was frustrated after the game over the referee's call, and while speaking to Barca TV after the final whistle, he said:

"They didn't send me off for nervousness, they sent me off for telling the referee that there was a second ball and the game had to be stopped. In this country, they send you off for nothing! I asked why and he (the referee) said 'attitude, attitude' ... we better leave it."

One of the Blaugrana's captains Sergi Roberto, who has been booed by their own fans on multiple occasions, has asked the team to do better as he feels that a club of Barcelona's stature should not aim for just a top-four finish that would give them Champions League football. He told Movistar after the game: "We have to win La Liga. It is not good enough for us to enter the top four, you have to fight for La Liga. I don't think the other teams have a better squad."

'Not the Barcelona of eight years ago' - Koeman

The pressure on Koeman is mounting after having won only one game in his last five. They have drawn three and got thrashed by Bayern Munich 3-0 in the UEFA Champions League Group Stage. Koeman will start working on his tactics and form a proper team if he wants his team to compete for La Liga with the likes of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. After their match against Granada which ended in a 1-1 draw on Tuesday, Koeman said, "Today's Barca is not the Barca of eight years ago. We played Barca's way, but we don't have the speed on the break because (Philippe) Coutinho goes inside, (Yusuf) Demir doesn't go too deep and that's the way it is. With Ansu (Fati) or (Ousmane) Dembele it's different, you have more speed, but you have to look for alternatives."

"Before the game, you think about winning, especially at home, but our bad start made the game difficult for us. We didn't come in strong, it was our fault. The opponent, after scoring, wasted time from minute two, defended more, did not leave spaces and this is difficult. We improved during the game. We changed and we played with crosses from the wings. We put energy into scoring. We wanted more, but one point is better than nothing. We deserved the draw," Koeman was quoted as saying by Goal.com.

Image: AP