Ronald Koeman can sit on the bench of Barcelona during the opening of the new season in LaLiga, so assures Sport Thursday. Cadena COPE brought out Wednesday that the Dutch coach had not yet received the green light from the Spanish Football Association, but Koeman no longer seems to have to worry about the game with Villarreal on 27 September.

The lack of clarity about Koeman’s situation has to do with the settlement of the dismissal of his predecessor Quique Setién. According to Sport It is true that Barcelona has not yet completed business with the latter coach. Nevertheless, Koeman will be able to coach his team in just over a week’s time, so it sounds. Barcelona has formally terminated Setién’s ongoing contract with the Spanish Football Association and is now working on the ransom for the dismissed coach.

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The formal termination of Setién’s commitment gives Koeman the opportunity to sit on the bench of the Catalans against Villarreal. Setién was removed from office shortly after the shameful 2-8 defeat against Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. The contract of the Spaniard appointed in January will continue until 2022 and Setién reportedly just wants to receive the remaining salary from Barcelona.

So Koeman normally makes his official debut against Villarreal as head coach of Barcelona. Because of the Champions League-duels in August, Koeman was not in action in the first two rounds of LaLiga this season. Koeman was already on the bench of Barcelona twice during practice games. Saturday was won 3-1 by Gimnàstic, Wednesday Girona went down with the same numbers against the Catalan superpower.