How does Koeman’s record compare to Barca’s past managers?

Robin Bairner

• 27 Oct 2021 17:42 CDT
• 2 min read

Ronald Koeman's reign at Barcelona is over following a 1-0 defeat away to Rayo Vallecano.

Following a 2-1 Clasico defeat to Real Madrid at Camp Nou at the weekend, Barca needed victory in order to save the coach's job. It proved unattainable, with Memphis Depay missing a second-half penalty along the way.

It was Koeman's third straight Clasico defeat since taking over in the summer of 2020.

They are languishing in ninth in La Liga and have already lost twice in the Champions League in three games. There is no guarantee that they will return to Europe's premier event given their struggles.

But how does the Dutchman compare with Barcelona coaches of the recent past?

Ronald Koeman has a win percentage of 59.7% at Barcelona. He has taken on average 1.96 points per game (PPG) in the 67 matches that he has overseen as boss at Camp Nou.

These figures stand alone as being reasonably impressive, but few clubs boast the recent history of excellence that Barcelona do.

Barca coaches since 2000/01

This is highlighted by the fact that predecessor Quique Setien’s reign was considered to be a 25-match disaster. Nevertheless, with a win percentage of 64% and a PPG of 2.08, he fared better than Koeman.

Indeed, there has been a steady decline in the win rate and PPG of coaches in recent seasons, matching the demise of the team itself.

Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola does not even rank as Barcelona’s best head coach since the turn of the millennium. Although he began the golden era at Camp Nou, it reached its apex under the late Tito Vilanova, who posted a win percentage of 77.3% and 2.44 PPG. Tragically, his reign was cut short due to illness.

Koeman, though, posts the worst Barcelona record since the era of Frank Rijkaard, who laid the groundwork for Guardiola and all that followed, nearly 20 years ago.