Robert Moreno says he does not know why he has been excluded from Luis Enrique’s coaching staff after being replaced as Spain manager.
Former Barcelona boss Enrique replaced Moreno after La Roja’s 5-0 victory over Romania in mid November, with Moreno said to have given an impassioned speech to the national team squad after discovering he had been removed from the post.
The relationship between the pair has soured even further since the manager swap, with Enrique labelling Moreno as ‘disloyal’, and the latter has now said he does not understand why he has been portrayed in such a negative light.
He said, as quoted by the Daily Mail: “
“In a first meeting with Luis Enrique, he told me that I had done what I had to do and that he felt proud of me.
“Then I asked him for a meeting to give him a hug and convey my support. It seemed appropriate to tell him that, just as I had said before, I would step aside if he decided to return.
“He said that seemed perfect but he told me that he no longer wanted me. I was in a state of shock. I let the staff know and I wondered what I had done wrong.”
Moreno was expected to slip back into his assistant role under Enrique, but the returning Spain boss said he did not want anyone on his staff who suffered with ‘over-ambition’.
“I do not want anyone like that on my staff,” he said. “The only time I have seen Moreno in all this time was on 12 September when we had a 20-30 minute meeting at my home.
“He was clear that he wanted to coach at the Euros and then I could come back and he would work as my assistant. It wasn’t a surprise: I could see it coming.
“I try to put myself in his position, I understand it; I understand that he worked hard to be there, to have that opportunity, and that he is ambitious, but for me it was disloyal, and I would never do that.”
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