It was the year 2003, the year new Club President elect Joan Laporta hired Frank Rijkaard as manager of FC Barcelona. Real Madrid had just won two of the past 3 La Liga titles and were succeeding in the early 2000?s. Barcelona were a club in crisis and they were in debt. Before the hiring of Rijkaard, Barca ended the season in 6th place and had not won La Liga or a single trophy since the 1998-99 season. The Nou Camp was no longer full of joy but instead with anger and pessimism because of the direction the club was heading.
So it was time to rebuild and start fresh, and that started at the top with Laporta and Director of football Txiki Begiristain. June 23, 2003 Rijkaard was hired and that is where the building blocks started. Real Madrid were deemed the Galactico’s in other words superstars, signing big names such as Ronaldo from Brazil,Zidane,Claude Makalele and former Barca legend Luis Figo. Madrid were getting all the press clippings and attention from what Club President Florentino Perez was building at Madrid but Barca had plans of their own. Barca rated Manchester United winger David Beckham as their number one target and Ronaldinho second. Beckham snubbed a move to Barca and chose Madrid. Ronaldinho on the other hand was playing his club football for Pairs St. Germain and was coming off a World Cup victory over Germany the previous summer.
Barca outbid Manchester United and signed Ronaldinho on the 19th of July that year. It will be set in stone and forever remembered by Barcelona fans. More players came along as Rijkaard signed defender Rafael Marquez from Monaco,Edgar Davids(Juventus),Ricardo Quaresma(Sporting Lisbon),Giovanni van Bronckhorst(Arsenal), but Rijkaard struggled early on in his first season as old players who did not meet the standards of Barca,and the fans were phased out. Rijkaard rebuilt his new-side by building his team around Ronaldinho while implementing Barca youth players such as Xavi,Puyol,Victor Valdes and Andres Iniesta.
Barca hit rock bottom falling as low as 16th in the table and lost to Rivals Real Madrid in December. Fans were calling for his and Laporta’s resignation. It took patience and strategic planning, as Barca were climbing out of debt while trying to field a winning team and restore the Barca glory from years past. Barcelona would go on to finish the 2003-04 season in 2nd place, just 5 points behind La Liga champions Valencia. Meanwhile Real Madrid placed 4th as this was a sign to come. Expectations were raised following a strong finish by Rijkaard’s side after the 2003-04 season as Barcelona were now favorites to win the league.
Rijakaard would continue to build his quad and that would start with offloading Ricardo Quaresma to FC Porto for midfielder Deco. Rijkaard also wanted a top notch finisher up front to compliment the service from the midfield. The man Rijkaard wanted was Mallorca scoring machine Samuel Eto’o, and he got him. The next signing would be Ludovic Giuly, a talented Frenchman who played for Monaco. The 2004-05 season was a success as Barca won La Liga for the first time since the 98-99 season but no European glory.
The tactics used during his tenure as manager of FC Barcelona best exemplify Frank Rijkaard’s commitment to playing stylish attacking football. During the team’s 2004–05 and 2005–06 campaigns, the coach frequently fielded a 4-1-2-2-1 formation, a system which encouraged the creativity of the players in the front third of the field and created optimal interplay between the midfielders and forwards during attacks. Within this system the four defenders also tended to play in a relatively high position on the pitch to support the midfield which frequently advanced to participate in the attack.
The team generally focuses on maintaining possession in the opponents’ half of the field, applying pressure in order to force the opposition to make errors in defense and offensive counter-attacking. Rijkaard’s puzzle was coming together after the 2004-05 season and expectations were even higher as they were now targeting the Champions League. Rijkaard brought in role players to fill specific needs on the pitch such as Henrik Larsson,Mark Van Bommel,Edmilson, and Maxi. He also added depth to the bench, because it is a long season where injuries always occur and many matches are to be played. The 2005-06 season would be Rijkaard’s best to date, as the team had stars who played a beautiful style of football that was captivating the world of Football.
The main star was Ronaldinho, who was Rijkaard’s foundation to success. Samuel Eto’o was scoring goals at a rapid pace, and finished the previous season one goal shy of the pichichi behind Villareal’s Diego Forlan. Deco, Ronnie’s partner in midfield would help lead Barca to win the Champions league over the favored English team Arsenal headed by Thierry Henry. Barca would win La Liga for the second consecutive season, along while winning the Supercopa. It was a vision and a plan that Laporta and Rijkaard put together when they arrived in 2003 that had all come into fruition.
The titles, the trophies, the glory, but first and foremost, the Catalan community and the fans of Barcelona. The players were enjoying individual success as well. Ronaldinho would win his second consecutive FIFA World Player of the year award(2004-05,2005-2006). Et’o won the Pichichi award, netting 26 league goals. Rijkaard 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, won him many plaudits and Rijkaard was among the five nominated coaches for UEFA’s Team of the Year 2005. On 8 March 2006 he was also honoured by UEFA for his contributions to the European Cup Competition throughout his career as player and manager. At the start of the 2006-07 season Barca were once again favorites and they were now the talk of Spain and around the world. They would make a few signings by bringing in Juventus defenders Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram.
They also signed forward Gudjohnsen from Chelsea. This would also be the season where we would see Lionel Messi inserted into the starting lineup. Rijkaard gave Messi his debut in a friendly on 11/16/03 in a friendly match against FC Porto at just the young age of 16. Messi would come off the bench for a couple of seasons and impressed Rijkaard. The season ended in a huge disappointment as Barca would let their lead in the table slip with just a month of the season to go, and finished second to Rivals Real Madrid. The only trophy Barca won was the Supercopa. The summer 0f 2007 Barca made a splash with the signing of Thierry Henry from Arsenal.
It was big news as everyone wanted to know what formation would Rijkaard use, and who was going to be left on the bench. Barca also would bring in Yaya Toure,Eric Abidal and Gabi Milito, and Rijkaard once again went to they youth system for Bojan and Gio Dos Santos. The 2007-08 season was a huge letdown as the team was hit by injures to Ronaldinho,Henry,Eto’o,Messi,Milito and Deco. The team was different every week as it was hard to find chemistry with the players because of the injuries. The locker room was unsettled as reports were surfacing about the divided locker room. Barca would go on to finish the season 3rd in the table and not win a single trophy. Thierry Henry,Barca’s biggest signing would lead the team with 19 goals even though he was injured. T
he team had all the right pieces but they failed due to massive injures and unrest in the locker room. After losing to Manchester United in the semifinal of the 2007–08 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.â€
On 1 May 2008, it is reported that Frank Rijkaard allegedly confided to a colleague that he would be stepping down as 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 8 May 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 no longer be head coach of the first team.
Laporta made the announcement after a board meeting; Rijkaard was succeeded by Josep Guardiola. Joan Laporta made it clear that Frank Rijkaard’s achievements “made history†and praised him for his time at the club. It was time to say goodbye to Ronaldino and Deco as they were sold to Milan and Chelsea. Eto’o was reportedly on his way out as well but he stayed one more season and led Barca to another La Liga title along while scoring the decisive goal to win the Champions League once again defeating defending champs Manchester United.
Eto’o also finished the season a few goals shy of the Pichichi award behind Diego Forlan of Atletico Madrid just as the same before in the 2004-05 season. Eto’o the last of Rijkaard’s original three, was forced out by Joan Laporta and new coach Guardiola and will now be playing for Inter Milan. Lionel Messi would go on to thank Frank Rijkaard by saying, “he was the man who believed in me, he gave me the chance to start at Barca, he believed in my abilities on the pitch and he showed me how to become a man. We won glory with Rijkaard and for that I can never forget he was a inspirational coach and I will always remember and thank him for everything he has done for my career.â€
