Valencia sack head coach Javi Gracia after Barcelona loss

Valencia have sacked coach Javi Gracia just 24 hours after the team slipped to within six points of the relegation zone in LaLiga, the club said in a statement on Monday.

Gracia, who took over at the end of last season, was fired following the team’s 2-3 home defeat to Barcelona on Sunday, their sixth consecutive league game without a win. He leaves them 14th in the standings, six above 18th-placed Huesca with four games left.

Valencia issued a brief statement early on Monday afternoon, which read: “Valencia CF have informed Javi Gracia of his dismissal as coach of the first team, as of Monday. The club would like to publicly thank him for his work and dedication during his time coaching the team, and wish him the best of success for the future. Salvador González ‘Voro’ will take charge of the first team on an interim basis”.

Long-serving club employee Voro has been named caretaker coach, the seventh time he has taken charge of the team on an interim basis. Gracia, who said after the defeat to Barcelona that he “could not be any more worried” about the team’s predicament, is the 11th coach the club have parted ways with in the last nine years.

His departure has been expected ever since he offered his resignation in October after the club failed to sign any players in the transfer window despite selling a number of influential footballers, including captain Dani Parejo and Spain forwards Ferrán Torres and Rodrigo Moreno. Valencia president Anil Murthy justified the club’s lack of signings by revealing they suffered a 100 million euro fall in revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Source – Reuters/AS English

Image via Ian Macnicol