Barcelona name B-team coach Sergi as caretaker after Koeman sacking

FC Barcelona have confirmed Bteam coach Sergi Barjuan as the shortterm replacement for Ronald Koeman following his sacking on Wednesday nightThe 49yearold who made 382 firstteam appearances for Barcelona will be in charge of the first team until a longterm replacement is found for the Dutchman who lost his job just hours after Barcas 10 defeat to Rayo VallecanoFC Barcelona hereby announces that Sergi Barjuan the current coach of Barca B shall be taking provisional charge of the technical management of the senior squad His interim position as firstteam head coach shall end as soon as the club has hired a fulltime head coach to replace the dismissed Ronald Koeman said the FC Barcelona websitePrior to taking over the BarcaB team this summer Sergi had worked with the clubs youth system as well as with Recreativo Huelva Almeria Mallorca and the Chinese side Zhejiang Professional Football Club with only a moderate degree of successSergi will be in charge for Saturdays October 30 La Liga game at home to Alaves and possibly for the vital Champions League visit to Dynamo Kiev the following Tuesday November 2 as well as the league visit to Vigo the following Saturday November 6Those three games are followed by the next international break and Barca hope to have a longterm replacement in charge by the time they play local rivals Espanyol on November 20Former Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez is the clear favorite to be named as the longterm coach with the 41yearold who is synonymous with Barcas passing game saying just a week ago that his ambition was to coach the clubXavi is currently coaching Qatari club AlSaad but is thought to have a clause that would allow him to join BarcaSee photos Dinesh Karthik and Dipika Pallikal blessed with twinsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever