FRANK Rijkaard will leave Barcelona at the end of the season and former captain Pep Guardiola will take over as coach of the team, club president Joan Laporta announced last night.
Former Netherlands international Rijkaard took charge of Barcelona in 2003 and led them to back-to-back league titles and victory over Arsenal in the Champions League final in Paris in 2006.
However, his side have failed to win any silverware for
the past two seasons and suffered a humiliating 4-1 defeat by arch-rivals Real Madrid on Wednesday. That defeat combined with Villarreal's victory over Recreativo Huelva means the Catalans will miss out on automatic qualification for the Champions League and cannot finish any higher than third in the Primera Liga.
"Frank has been the leader of the team that led us to glory in Paris, but the cycle is finished because the results haven't gone our way in the last two years," Laporta told a news conference. "The situation was very disappointing last season. We haven't been able to correct the errors that were committed then and we have decided that Frank should be relieved of his post at the end of the season."
Rijkaard's contract was due to run to 2009.
Laporta, who made it clear that Rijkaard's assistants, Johan Neeskens and former player Eusebio, would also be leaving the club, said that Guardiola had been the board's unanimous choice as the new coach. "We believe in Pep Guardiola because he is capable of leading this new sporting project. He is a man who guarantees the continuation of a footballing concept that has led this club to so much success."
Born in Santpedor to the north of Barcelona, the 37-year-old Guardiola made his name at Barca as a cultured midfielder in the early 1990s when Johan Cruyff was manager.
He quickly established himself as a favourite at the Nou Camp and became one of the key players in Cruyff's so-called "Dream team" which won four consecutive league titles between 1991 and 1994 and the European Cup in 1992.
He also helped Spain win the gold medal in the Barcelona Olympics and earned 47 caps with the senior national team.
Guardiola left Barcelona in 2001 to join Serie A side Brescia but his career in Italy was disrupted when he tested positive for nandrolone in November of the same year. He served a four-month ban but strenuously denied any offence and went through the courts to clear his name, finally winning his case last October.
After spells in Qatar and Mexico, Guardiola announced his retirement as a player in November 2006. He was appointed coach of Barcelona's B side last June and has steered the team to the top of their group in Spain's regionally-based tercera (fourth tier) division. Laporta said he would give details of Guardiola's contract at the end of the season. He also refused to be drawn on which players would leave the club.
The 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid this week certainly appears to have been the final nail in the coffin for Rijkaard. "Shameful" was the headline on sports daily Mundo Deportivo's website, while the Sport led on a black front page with: "You have dishonoured the Barcelona shirt".
Goals from Raul, Arjen Robben, Gonzalo Higuain and Ruud van Nistelrooy crowned a perfect night of celebration for the home fans on Wednesday, who packed the Bernabeu after Real had clinched the title in Pamplona on Sunday. The build-up to the match was dominated by talk of the traditional guard of honour Barca would have to afford to the champions as they took to the pitch. The Madrid-based sports daily Marca had a free glossy pullout poster of the moment in its edition yesterday, but that was the least of the worries for the Catalan press.
"The guard of honour wasn't the low point. What came after was worse," said Sport. "They scored four and it could have been six. The defence was like butter. It isn't a renovation that's needed, it is a revolution."
RIJKAARD'S REIGN AT THE NOU CAMP• Takes charge of Barca in 2003 with club demoralised by four years of underachievement, instability and political in-fighting.
• In his first season is greeted by the headline "Guilty" with an arrow pointing to his photograph in one Catalan sports daily after Barca slump to first home league defeat by Real Madrid for 20 years.
• The arrival of midfielder Edgar Davids in January 2004 transforms the team and they put together a 17-match unbeaten run to finish second behind Valencia in the league.
• Samuel Eto'o and Deco join Ronaldinho at the Nou Camp the following season and Barca storm to the title to win their first trophy in six years.
• Rijkaard's side top that achievement in 2006 by retaining the league title, beating Arsenal in the Champions League final in Paris and earning plaudits for their attack-minded football.
• A 3-0 demolition by fellow Spaniards Sevilla in the European Super Cup at the start of the 2006-07 season suggests Rijkaard's team is showing signs of fallibility.
• Further warnings come when Barca are out-fought by Liverpool in Europe, humiliated by Getafe in the semi-final of the King's Cup and, amid dressing room divisions, throw away a handsome lead in the title race allowing Real to snatch the crown from their grasp.
• Despite signing the likes of Eric Abidal and Thierry Henry, Rijkaard can't prevent his side from losing to Valencia in the Cup and Manchester United in the Champions League semi-final. Losing out to Real in the title race for a second year running and a humiliating 4-1 defeat to their arch rivals is the final nail in his coffin.
The full article contains 972 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
