Barcelona striker Patrick Kluivert says he hopes that the club don’t sack coach Louis Van Gaal, despitre the recent poor run of results.

Van Gaal has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks, as his Barcelona team have continued to underform in La Liga. Last weekend’s 4-2 home defeat to ten-men Valencia represented a fresh nadir for the team and the loss is understood to have edged the Dutch coach to the brink of dismissal.

However, Kluivert believes such a scenario would be unfair on Van Gaal.

“Everyone has spoken about this, but for me it would be unjust,” he said.

“When I began to play professional football it was Van Gaal who developed me into a first team player.

“I’velearned a lot from him and it would hurt me if he was dismissed.”