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Barcelona (2003–2008)
Rijkaard was not out of a
coaching role for long, and less than a year
after leaving Sparta Rotterdam, he was appointed
manager of FC Barcelona for the 2003–04 season.
The season would prove to be a watershed for the
club, but not without initial instability.
Rijkaard arrived at the club as it entered a new
phase, having elected a new President in Joan
Laporta and a new managerial board, but with
fans unhappy that Laporta had let English
midfielder David Beckham snub the chance to join
the club. For Rijkaard, the team he inherited,
with the exception of new superstar signing
Ronaldinho (who was the club's second choice
after Beckham), also consisted of many
underachieving players from the old guard and
era that failed to meet the club and its fans'
demands to match arch rival Real Madrid's
success in the early 2000s, having not won a
trophy since 1999.
Rijkaard had a disappointing
start at Barcelona that saw some sections of the
club's fans call for his resignation, and he
drew flak from the media when the team lost to
Real Madrid in December 2003. Rijkaard's
resilience won through and from 2004 onwards, he
achieved a massive turnaround, as the team went
from strength to strength. Barcelona finished
runners-up in La Liga in 2003–04, having been
close to the relegation zone at one point in the
earlier stages of the season. Rijkaard then took
Barcelona to the next level as he phased out the
old guard and rebuilt a new look side around
Ronaldinho, with new players like Deco, Samuel
Eto'o, Rafael Márquez and Ludovic Giuly, along
with the ultimate uprising of some young players
from the previous era formed in the club's youth
teams (i.e. Víctor Valdés, Carles Puyol, Xavi
and Andrés Iniesta). He eventually succeeded in
turning around the fortunes of the club, with
the strong support of Laporta, and within the
next couple of years finally managed to win La
Liga both in 2004–05 and in 2005–06.
He became the first Barcelona
coach to have won twice at Real Madrid's stadium
Santiago Bernabéu, an achievement which even
successful managers like Johan Cruijff, Louis
van Gaal and Luis Aragonés were unable to
accomplish. His no nonsense policy on and off
the field, and the sparkling football played by
his team, have won him many plaudits and
Rijkaard was among the five nominated coaches
for UEFA's Team of the Year 2005. On March 8,
2006 he was also honoured by UEFA for his
contributions to the European Cup Competition
throughout his career as player and manager.
Rijkaard also achieved success
on the European stage winning the 2005–06
Champions League with a 2–1 win against Arsenal
in the final. Barcelona had been losing 1–0 for
most of the match before his late tactical
substitutions proved the decisive factor, as the
introduction of Henrik Larsson and Juliano
Belletti contributed directly to Barcelona's two
goals. The win made him the only fifth
individual to have won the European Cup both as
a player and as a manager, alongside Miguel
Muñoz, Giovanni Trapattoni, Johan Cruyff, and
Carlo Ancelotti.
After losing to Manchester
United in the Semi-Final of the 2007/2008 UEFA
Champions League, Rijkaard was asked whether he
would quit at the end of the season seeing as
though he had not won anything for two
successive seasons. Rijkaard replied:
"I have no intention of
leaving. It would be different if the players
were saying it is time for me to go but that is
not the case"
On May 1, 2008 it is reported
that Frank Rijkaard allegedly confided to a
colleague that he would be stepping down as FC
Barcelona manager at the end of the season. But
24 hours later Rijkaard stated in a press
conference that he has no intention of leaving
Barcelona.
On May 8, 2008, the day after
Barcelona's dismal 4-1 defeat to arch rivals
Real Madrid, Barcelona's president Joan Laporta
announced that at the end of the 2007-2008
season, Frank Rijkaard will not longer be head
coach of the first team. Laporta made the
announcement after a board meeting; Rijkaard was
succeeded by Josep Guardiola.[7] Joan Laporta
made it clear that Frank Rijkaard's achievements
"made history" and praised him for his time at
the club. |
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