Quique Setien knows that his future is up in the air. Following Barcelona's defeat to Osasuna, the 61-year-old coach admits that his days may be numbered. Further backing that belief is that Setien has reportedly lost the backing of his players. There is reportedly a growing rift between the booters and the coaching staff, something that sparked his possible exit.
The loss shut all hopes of Barca possibly winning the La Liga title. Real Madrid made sure of that as well, defeating Villareal to seal the La Liga title. Blaugrana was hoping for a loss by Los Blancos to keep their hopes alive. Their fate was no longer in their hands.
With the La Liga title now out, Barcelona is now diverting its focus on the Champions League crown. The only problem now is that Setien may no longer be around when that happens August, Goal.com reported.
"I hope to be the Barcelona coach in the Champions League but I don't know," Setien said.
Possibly adding more heat to Setien's future is Lionel Messi. The 33-year-old was visibly upset at their fortunes, believing they could have made it harder for Real Madrid to reclaim the La Liga plum.
"If we want to win the Champions League, we have to change a lot. If we continue like this, we will lose the game against Napoli," Messi said.
As far as Setien is concerned, he understands where the Argentine football player is coming from. However, the Spanish coach adds that the club also had to go through a string of bad luck along the way.
"I agree with Messi on some things," Setien said. "We have to do self-criticism and if we don't do it, it will cost us anything we want to do."
So the better question now is will Setien still be around for the Champions League. Anything can happen in the coming weeks though calls for his ouster has been growing louder.
However, it appears a change at the helm will have to wait based on the latest reports. President Josep Maria Bartomeu said on Friday evening that Setien will keep his job for the time being. This means that he will still be around when Barca hosts Napoli in the team's last-16 second leg at Camp Nou and possibly the quarterfinal clash with Bayern Munich.
Barca management hopes that things simmer down internally during the break. They appear reluctant to change coaches once more. Setien took over from Ernest Valverde but has yet to enforce big chances with Barcelona.
