Barcelona president Joan Laporta has asked fans of the club to have confidence in under-fire coach Ronald Koeman, saying the coach will stay regardless of results.

The Dutchman has come under scrutiny following the Catalan giants’ worst start to  a Champions League season in their history.

They are bottom of Group E with two defeats and haven’t scored a goal in Europe’s premier club competition.

They are also are currently 6th in LaLiga, a position which has put his position under the microscope.

Laporta has however thrown weight behind Koeman and also asked the fans to support him.

“Koeman will stay because he deserves a certain element of confidence. He is truly from Barca, he lives Barca. He is a person who is a reference in terms of Barca history,” Laporta told reporters on Saturday.

“He decided to come to Barca in a very difficult situation sportingly and institutionally. And also, after speaking to him, I have to say, I trust in his team especially when we get back all the players that are injured for various reasons and we need to get those back, to be more competitive.”

“He believes in the team and he is really part of Barca. He deserves this element of confidence, we all deserve that, none of us have been here very long. Regardless of the results, Koeman will continue to be coach of Barca, he has a contract in place aand we hope we will find ourselves in a moment when we have victories again and playing the way we want to play.”

“I ask the fans that they have some confidence in the coach, he deserves that and what’s more, they can be assured, if they  have confidence in this team, especially when all the injured players are back, we will have a team that will be much more competitive,” he added.

Barcelona are away to Atletico Madrid in LaLiga tonight.