Barcelona Dressing Room Is In 'Chaos' After Ronald Koeman's Last-Minute 'Surprise'

Barcelona's dressing room is reportedly in 'chaos' after Ronald Koeman chose to change formation without informing his players.

The Catalan giants suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday evening.

Spanish publication SPORT have delved into that poor result and revealed Koeman managed to anger his players in the build-up.

Barcelona have used a back four for most of this season, but Koeman decided to change to a three in midweek.

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He made this decision hours before the game and didn't prepare his team in training the week prior.

Last weekend saw the Blaugrana run out 3-0 winners against Levante with Gerard Pique and Eric Garcia at the back.

Ronald Araujo was brought into the starting 11 in Portugal and it threw the other two off completely.

Pique was substituted on a yellow card for Gavi after 33 minutes and Garcia was sent off late on.

Frenkie de Jong then stepped into defence from midfield to keep it a back three.

De Jong insisted that sacking Koeman is not the answer, despite Barcelona sitting eighth in La Liga and bottom of their Champions League group.

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"I don't think changing the coach is the solution," de Jong explained per The Guardian. "I can't talk about Koeman, it's not my place. We have to keep fighting, stay together and overcome this situation. We can only escape this with hard work and being united as a team."

Koeman has been defiant about his position and still has the backing of the club's hierarchy.

President Joan Laporta said, according to Sky Sports: "Koeman will continue as the Barca coach.

"We understand that he deserves a bit of margin for many reasons: He's a Barca fan and legend for fans all over the world. He'll stay on and deserves a margin of confidence.

"He loves Barca and decided to come here in a really tough time both institutionally and on a sporting front.

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"After talking to him, I can see he's got faith in the team... We spoke and it's not true that we've got a tense relationship - it's good and honest. I think we both think the same, to turn things around."

Rumours have suggested Barcelona are earmarking five managers as potential replacements, including Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

Topics: Football, Barcelona, Champions League, Spain

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

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