Almeria sack coach after rout

Juan Manuel Lillo has been fired as coach of Almeria, paying the penalty for an 8-0 humiliation at the hands of Barcelona on Saturday.

The Andalusian side have managed just one win and collected only nine points from their first 12 games of the La Liga season.

They were annihilated by reigning champions Barcelona in front of their own fans at the Estadio Juegos de Mediterraneo, with a rampant Lionel Messi claiming a hat-trick.

The embarrassing defeat proved one loss too many for 45-year-old Lillo, who was relieved of his duties shortly after the match.

“The reason is purely sporting and comes after the bad results Almeria have suffered in recent weeks that have seen the side slip into the relegation places,” the club said in a statement.

Lillo’s future looked bleak immediately after the match, when an enraged Almeria president Alfonso Garcia Gabarron announced a board meeting to discuss the result.

“We were ridiculous,” Garcia Gabarron told Canal Plus.

“We’re going to meet now because we’ve got to find a way to respond. I’m not going to say it now out of respect (to the coach) as we will communicate the decision to him first.”

Lillo took over as manager in December 2009 after the sacking of Hugo Sanchez. He guided the team to a 13th-place finish in his first season as manager.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola studied under Lillo at Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa and credits the former Salamanca and Real Sociedad coach with the playing the most important role of any of his mentors during his development as a coach.

While Guardiola will have taken little pleasure in presiding over the defeat that cost Lillo his job, he was satisfied with a devastating display from his team.

“We scored nearly every time we went forward, unlike other days,” Guardiola said.

“It is not easy to describe a game that finished like that. I want to congratulate the team on their effectiveness.”

Guardiola reserved individual praise for Bojan Krkic.

The 20-year-old has started just five games this season but came off the bench to score his first goal of the campaign on Saturday.

“He never lost his confidence, and neither did we lose faith in him,” Guardiola said.

“He was a vital part of the league championship last year. He made the two goals he scored. We know he’s there when we need him.”