Barcelona Confirm Eric Abidal Exit as Sporting Director
By Adam Aladay
Barcelona have confirmed that they have reached an agreement to end Eric Abidal's contract as sporting director, following the Catalan giants' humiliating defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Barça's hugely underwhelming season came to a crashing end as they were left embarrassed after they fell to an 8-2 thumping by Bayern in the quarter-finals of Europe's top competition. It meant that La Blaugrana finished the season without any silverware.
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— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 18, 2020
Agreement for the ending of Éric Abidal's contract
Barcelona opted to part ways with manager Quique Setien following the defeat, while it had also been expected that Abidal would follow. This has now been confirmed by the club on their official website.
The short statement read: "FC Barcelona and Éric Abidal have reached an agreement for the ending of the contract that united the two parties.
"The Club would publicly like to thank Éric Abidal for his professionalism, commitment, dedication and the close and positive nature of his relationship with all aspects of the blaugrana family."
The 40-year-old took up a technical role at Camp Nou back in 2018, but only became the sporting director ahead of the 2019/20 season. However, it proved to be a challenging first year in the role. Abidal dominated headlines back in February due to the comments he made following the sacking of former manager Ernesto Valverde.
Abidal appeared to criticise some of the club's players for not 'working much' during Valverde's time in charge. Lionel Messi - who could look to force an exit this summer due to the mounting problems at Camp Nou - hit back at Abidal for his comments, explaining that his remarks were only encouraging false rumours.
Messi responds to Abidal re: Valverde’s sacking: “I think everyone has to be responsible for their own jobs and take responsibility for their decisions... when you talk about players, you should give names because if not, you’re feeding things that people say and aren’t true” pic.twitter.com/nYDSPyY515
— The Spanish Football Podcast (@tsf_podcast) February 4, 2020
It was suggested that Abidal could be sacked for his role in the public feud, but president Josep Maria Bartomeu opted against such a move and instead resolved the situation. However, Barça's staggering defeat has proven to be the final straw for Abidal.
Barcelona are yet to officially confirm who will take over from Setien as the new manager, but Ronald Koeman is the man who is said to have been chosen.