Robert Moreno appointed as Sochi head coach

The Sochi football club, which ranks last in the current Russian championship, announced the appointment of Spaniard Robert Moreno as head coach. The 46-year-old specialist is primarily known for his work with current PSG coach Luis Enrique at Roma, Celta, Barcelona and the Spanish national team as an assistant. At the same time, Moreno led the national team for some time, and then Monaco and Granada. Now he has signed a long-term contract with the Sochi team.

The outsider of the Premier League Sochi, who scored 11 points in 18 rounds and finished the first part of the Russian Championship in 16th place with a very specific prospect of relegation from the elite division, made another attempt to save the unsuccessful season. After nothing worked out for Dmitry Khokhlov and his replacement, Alexander Tochilin (and the team managed to play another match under the leadership of Denis Klyuev), the club decided to turn to the services of a foreign specialist. And the choice of the Black Sea people fell on Robert Moreno.

Despite the fact that the 46-year-old Spaniard has very little experience in independent coaching, his track record includes quite a few high-profile titles. He won everything not only at the national level, becoming a two-time champion of Spain, a three-time winner of the Cup, as well as the country’s Super Cup. Moreno also has victories in the Champions League, European Super Cup and the Club World Cup. The fact is that he achieved all this while working as an assistant to the much more eminent Luis Enrique during the period when he was the head coach of Barcelona.

Actually, Moreno owes his career to his acquaintance with Enrique, which happened in the second team of the Catalan club – Barcelona B, where he got a job as an analyst, eventually retraining as an assistant. Then their long-term collaboration began, which lasted almost 11 years. In addition to Barça, they collaborated in Roma, Celta and the Spanish national team. Moreover, it is possible that Moreno would have remained in the shadows if not for the tragic circumstances that occurred in Enrique’s family. In 2019, during the qualifying campaign for the 2020 European Championship, he was forced to leave his post due to the serious illness of his daughter, who subsequently died, and the duties of head coach of the national team were assigned to Moreno.

It is difficult to assess the degree of influence of Enrique’s assistant on the Spanish national team, which is traditionally replete with top-class football players, but the fact is that under him, it triumphantly completed the selection process and qualified for the Euro. In ten matches, the so-called “red fury” won eight victories and did not suffer a single defeat. According to rumors, Moreno wanted, as they say, to steer the final part of the continental championship, but Enrique returned to the team. As a result, as they say, a cat ran between them, and their tandem broke up.

Moreno set off on his own, especially since at the end of 2019 he received a tempting invitation from Monaco. But he did not remain the head coach of the Russian legionary of the club Alexander Golovin for long, although already in his debut he marked a bright match with the flagship of French football PSG (3:3). Moreno’s team was constantly in a fever, and it finished only in ninth place. In addition, the coronavirus pandemic left its negative mark, due to which the French championship was not completed, and in the off-season the Spaniard was fired, replacing him with the more experienced Croatian Niko Kovac.

In the summer of 2021, Moreno took charge of the Spanish Granada. From time to time, his players showed good football – they beat Atlético, Sevilla, and achieved a draw with Barcelona, ​​but overall the results were unsatisfactory. As a result, Moreno was fired in March 2022 and has not coached anyone since.

It is clear that if Moreno had been even slightly in demand in Europe, he would hardly have agreed to the offer from Sochi. Now, apparently, he just needs to reboot his career. But for Black Sea residents this is an interesting and, perhaps, truly life-saving option. After all, now the former head coach of the Spanish national team will work with them. Moreno himself said in a video message published on the Sochi telegram channel that he was “very excited and motivated by this new adventure.” “I believe that together we will accomplish great feats,” the Spaniard added. In principle, feats may not be necessary. Sochi is now only four points behind the play-off zone. Another thing is that the safe haven, that is, 12th place, is already far away – eight points.

Alexander Ilyin