In his post-match comments, Frank Rijkaard exhibits three different moods.


FC Barcelona's coach Frank Rijkaard was both joyful, sad and aware of the situation facing the super squad. Rijkaard's source of sadness was the injury crisis in Barca, which has been worsened with Marquez and Puyol going back into injury after just recovering. The source of joy was the 2-0 away victory the Blaugrana secured against group mates, VfB Stuttgart in the Champions League clash in Stuttgart. The source of awareness was the creeping relaxed attitude that is slowly coming back into mentality of the players, after the stars showed signs of overconfidence against Stuttgart, but quickly recovering when things became desperate. Rijkaard started by saying that:

It was important that we secured a result today. It is a shame that we have two injured players now, but it's not that bad with Puyol. Hopefully he’ll be back very soon. But Márquez will need some tests tomorrow. We started well, had some chances, but chose the one-on-one too often when closing down in the area which strengthened our opponents.

Rijkaard highlighted grey areas in Barca's game during the match

There were times when we were playing the ball around the outside of their area and giving Stuttgart the chance to build up their confidence, and they play very direct football. We should have decided the match by then but did not manage to do so. Stuttgart reacted well and that's why our goalkeeper's saves were so important. Our problem is that we have many great players but they sometimes think it's all coming to them without work. We still have to work very hard.

Rijkaard had praises for three players in the match, namely versetile midfielder Iniesta, hardworking defender Abidal and colourful supremo Ronaldinho:

Iniesta is a very important player, very intelligent, because he can read everybody’s positions on the field of play. The only thing he can’t do is play in goal. Abidal was one of the best today, as was Abidal, who also did a grand job at centre back. Also, Ronaldinho held out very well for the whole game, and played an important part in Puyol’s goal. I am delighted for him.

FC Barcelona will play the next match on Sunday, 7th October against Atletico Madrid in the Spanish La Liga. The match takes place in Camp Nou.