Frank Rijkaard
Frank Rijkaard
Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard; born 30 September 1962) is a Dutch football manager and former player. Rijkaard has played for Ajax, Real Zaragoza and Milan, and represented his national side 73 times, scoring 10 goals. In his coaching career, he has been at the helm of the Netherlands national team, Sparta Rotterdam, Barcelona, Galatasaray and the Saudi Arabia national team. Regarded as one of the best defensive midfielders in footballing history, and as one of the best players of his generation,...
ProfessionSoccer Player
Date of Birth30 September 1962
CityAmsterdam, Netherlands
I saw some good things. Although we're not at our best, ... Little by little we're moving up to our peak.
We showed great pride to avoid defeat although I can't congratulate my players for drawing, ... It was only when we were losing 2-0 that some players lost their fear of wasting a pass.
Although we are not happy with the draw, it is quite a good result for us. We remain on the right course and if we keep working hard we will improve. At this stage of the season the best is still to come.
I saw a lot of good things today, such as our defensive strength and the way Deco played, but we still are not 100 per cent, ... Little by little we are getting there, although it wasn't the most attractive game because we had to play against a solid defensive wall, but that's always going to be the way (in the Nou Camp).
It is a shame that we couldn't win but, on the other hand, it doesn't change anything in respect to our chances of going through.
Larsson played because I have more than eleven players and all can take part,
We earned ourselves three very important points. We played well and created plenty of opportunities and now we can focus on the Milan match. The only negative aspect was the injuries, but we hope they aren't too serious.
We have something to show people -- that Barcelona are a good team and can eliminate Chelsea.
We had to wait a long time to see if they would play the game. The good thing, though, is that we didn't have to use any energy.
We had to suffer. It was important that we weren't beaten in defense.
It is extra motivation. He is calm and ready for the match.
Mathematically after this latest game we've taken another step towards the league title which each time is getting that little bit closer.
When you are leading 3-1 it's normal to win, but not today. We deserved more, because at 3-2 we still had control of the game.
We will have bigger games than this and against better opposition and we have to be careful. We cannot afford the luxury of making things more complicated than necessary.