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Barca's New Coach Revealed!

Written by: subhankar mondal
Submitted on: 2008-05-09 04:05:48
Sport: soccer

A new era has commenced at FC Barcelona even before the old one has subsided. A declaration on the official website of the club has made it clear that at the end of the current 2007-2008 season, Frank Rijkaard shall no longer be the coach of the team and his replacement will be.....

No prize for guessing: it's one Josep 'Pep' Guardiola. The former Spanish hardman is currently the coach of the Barcelona B and has been confirmed as the coach from next season. The statement on the club's website read as follows:

"[President] Joan Laporta has announced that Frank Rijkaard will end his career at the club at the end of this current 2007/08 season. Josep Buardiola, current coach of Barça B, has been picked as his replacement on the bench of FC Barcelona.

"After a meeting of the Board of Directors, the president Joan Laporta appeared before the media to announce the takeover on the bench of the first team of FC Barcelona at the end of the season. On June 30, Frank Rijkaard will no longer be coach of FC Barcelona and Josep Guardiola will be his replacement."

Sometime later Barca president Joan Laporta released his own statement which reads as follows:

"He has done an excellent job and has had an excellent performance. We will remember Frank Rijkaard as the man that led the team to recovery and in three years took them to glory in Paris [in the Champions League].

"He had an exceptional balance of trophies that must not be obscured by the results of the last two seasons. One can conclude that Frank Rijkaard makes history.

"[Frank] has completed a cycle and the results are not with him now. Despite attempts, the mistakes detected last season were not corrected.

"He has been very gracious, and it was a very emotional time. I find it hard to say anything bad of him."

So where will Frank Rijkaard now end up?