Barcelona president says club should have fired Koeman earlier

Barcelona should have sacked coach Ronald Koeman before Wednesday's 1-0 LaLiga defeat at Rayo Vallecano, club president Joan Laporta said on Friday.

The Dutchman was fired after Barça lost their second La Liga game in a row following their 2-1 home defeat by Real Madrid in the Clasico on Sunday.

"Looking at the situation as of today, it probably would have been the best decision (to terminate Koeman's contract before)," Laporta told a news conference to present Sergi Barjuan as caretaker manager.

"Now it is easy to say that but that are circumstances that led us to wait. We thought that Koeman needed more time. I take full responsibility but the situation got to a point that was unsustainable."

Laporta indicated that talks with 41-year-old former Barcelona great Xavi Hernandez, the manager of Qatar's Al-Sadd, are advanced but no agreement had yet been reached.

"He's a friend and I always thought that one day Xavi was going to be Barcelona's coach. It's a priority in his life. If we reach an agreement, he'll have our full support", he said.

Barcelona are ninth in LaLiga with 15 points from 10 games, nine points adrift of leaders Real Sociedad and six behind second-placed Real Madrid. They host Alaves on Saturday.