Koeman unsure if he has Barcelona backing after Benfica thrashing

AFP

Ronald Koeman admitted he is in the dark about his future after a 3-0 defeat by Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday put his position as Barcelona coach in serious doubt.

Another heavy loss for Barca means they sit bottom of Group E, having lost back-to-back group games in the Champions League for the first time since 2000.

Koeman was already under pressure after a disappointing start to the season while his relationship with club president Joan Laporta has been strained in recent weeks.

Barca face Atletico Madrid on Saturday in La Liga, with reports in the Catalan press indicating a board meeting will be held on Thursday to decide if Koeman should be in charge.

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“I feel very supported by the players, by the attitude that they have, and the rest I don’t know,” said Koeman after the match.

Koeman was asked again about his future in a press conference.

“I can’t say anything because I don’t know what the club feels about this,” he said. “I can’t answer more questions about this because it’s not in my hands. We’ll see.”

Barcelona have won only one of their last five games in all competitions, a run that has also left them sitting sixth in La Liga.

But the threat of going out early in the Champions League will be the most immediate concern, with two games up next against Dynamo Kiev.

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“We are in a critical situation,” said Sergio Busquets. “We have only played two games but we have zero points. We have two games against Dynamo and we have to win both.”

FBI Most Wanted Fugitive Arrested in Mexico and Deported to U.S.

Authorities in Mexico announced Thursday that Samuel Ramírez Jr., a U.S. citizen accused of murdering two women and listed among the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, was arrested in the northern state of Sinaloa.

Ramírez Jr., 33, was detained Tuesday in Culiacán just 1 hour and 13 minutes after being added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Ten Most Wanted list, the agency said in a statement.

The suspect, who was born in California, has already been deported to the U.S. state of Washington, where he faces charges related to the fatal shooting of two women at a bar in Federal Way in May 2023.

A court issued an arrest warrant for Ramírez in November last year, and the FBI initially offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to his capture, later increasing the amount to up to $1 million.

“To protect individuals’ privacy and ensure continued cooperation from the public, the FBI does not confirm the identity of those who provide information,” the agency said in its statement.

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Sin categoría

UN experts warn Nicaragua runs vast transnational network to monitor exiled dissidents

Nicaragua maintains an “extensive” transnational network to monitor and intimidate opposition figures living in exile, affecting “hundreds of thousands” of people, the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua warned on Tuesday.

In a statement, the experts said their report “details an extensive transnational architecture of surveillance and intelligence used to monitor, intimidate and attack the hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans living abroad.”

The report, which will be presented on March 16 to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, states that the structure maintained by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo includes the army, the police, migration authorities and diplomatic missions.

According to the statement, “the government has arbitrarily stripped 452 Nicaraguans of their nationality, left thousands more exiled in a situation of de facto statelessness, and prevented many from returning to Nicaragua.”

Sin categoría

Trump: ‘We Think It’s True’ Amid Claims Iran’s Supreme Leader Was Killed

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he believes multiple reports claiming the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during the U.S. and Israeli offensive against the Islamic Republic are likely true, though he stopped short of confirming the news.

“We have a feeling that the information is correct,” he said, according to NBC News. “I don’t want to say anything definitive until I see it, but we think that’s the case. And many of their leaders have disappeared,” he added.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were “many indications” that Khamenei had died in an attack on his residential compound.