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
He is the youngest player in the team and we have to look after him. He is a vital player for us, but we have a strong enough squad to cover his absence.
He isn't in the squad because I wanted to give him a rest.
Ronnie and Samuel were very intelligent. One spotted the space and the other reacted very well to the pass. Between them they invented a goal.
This is a moment for us to be relaxed and content. Before the game we were concentrated only on the job ahead. There were obviously some nerves in our play but this is what you would expect in a game like this when you get to this stage of the competition.
He transmits a lot of joy and pleasure playing the game, and he has individual skills that are of such a high level that everybody in the world adores him.
Milan is a very strong team which has been at the top for a long time.
I would also like to say that the referee behaved very well.
He's almost impossible to leave out because he's enormously talented but we've had chances and scored goals in the last two games, which have shown that we can function without him.
He's a great player, at any moment he can make a difference.
Arsenal deserve to be in the final and will be a very dangerous opponent.
I don't know if it was the correct decision or not but what I can say is that it was good to be able to conserve ourselves. We had to a wait a long time before we knew what was happening though, and this wasn't very good.
It could have been a penalty. But the referee is the one who has to judge and he thought that Motta acted involuntarily.
It's a good first step on the way to qualification. But we can't rest on our laurels. Chelsea is too good a team for that.
It is extra motivation. He is calm and ready for the match.