FCBARCELONA.CAT

12.05.2007 14:15

“We owe the fans and the club”

Sandra Sarmiento

The FC Barcelona coach wants “a reaction on pitch” from his team against Betis. Frank Rijkaard admitted “we have to win back the confidence of our support.”

“Thursday was a tough night, but we have to move on.” Frank Rijkaard is conscious of the implications of the defeat at the hands of Getafe: “We gave a bad image. We owe the fans and the club. We have to win back their confidence.” With this message, the coach hopes for a reaction from his team in order to preserve their lead in the Liga. “The fans are important to us and we know it is up to us to do something in order to receive their support.”

Betis

Luis Fernandez is experiencing a delicate situation and will be looking to come away with something from Betis’ visit to the Camp Nou on Sunday. “If we train with pride and leave a good impression, we will have possibilities of increasing team moral.” This being the objective of the blaugrana, where Rijkaard knows “Betis is a difficult team, but we have to concentrate and achieve our objectives: win points, win difficult games and make our fans happy. These are enough reasons for us to concentrate on what we have to do.”

The Liga title

Frank Rijkaard works in silence to achieve his objectives. Prudence has always been his trademark and for him, the most important thing at the moment is to win 3 points against Betis. “We work to win the Liga. I don’t speak of results because the team will win what it deserves. All the players want to win, but we have to suffer, fight and react on pitch.”

Control of the team

Asked whether he was controlling the team in the right way, Rijkaard responded “all opinions have to be respected. We’ve always worked in a way we’ve seen right. When something doesn’t work, decisions have to be made. Up until now, we are satisfied; however, we are fully aware of what we need to do in order to make our fans happy.”