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Barca give Rijkaard the boot
08/05/2008 20:05 - (SA)
Madrid - 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 on Thursday.
Former Netherlands international Rijkaard took charge of
Barcelona in 2003 and led them to back-to-back league titles and
victory in the Champions League 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 that the Catalans will miss out on
automatic qualification for the Champions League and cannot
finish any higher than third in the Primera Liga.
"The cycle is finished because the results haven't gone our
way," 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.
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