FCBARCELONA.CAT

06.05.2008 14:10

Rijkaard hoping for ‘great game’

Jesús Carrillo

Frank Rijkaard is exclusively immersed in tomorrow’s game at the Santiago Bernabéu, and refused to discuss any other issues.

Frank Rijkaard described the game on Wednesday as “a very important game for us. It won’t be easy but we have to look for a good result, especially for the players, for the club and especially for our fans”.
Keeping things private

A of questions have been raised about the yellow cards shown to Eto'o and Deco on Sunday, and possible conversations with director of football Txiki Begiristain, but Rijkaard only wanted to offer one answer to such questions. “I don’t want to get into the issue of the cards in the last game. There is always a risk when a player is one card away from suspension, and I took that risk, and as for my conversations with Txiki, as ever, they are private conversations and in no case should I have to make them public to the press”, he insisted.

Not concerned about future

Another pending matter is Rijkaard’s future on the Barça bench, to which he replied “I don’t want to get distracted by all that is being said, I take no notice of the usual rumours. I want to say that my time as the Barça manager is not over and I have not made any decisions … I will not make any decision about my future until the end of the season. I have a contract with the club, but although contracts should always be respected, to continue you need the will of both parties and we have always had to think about what is best for the club.”

Delicate moment

Frank Rijkaard is aware that for the team this is “a very hard and delicate situation, but we have to do things without worrying about the things going on around us. We need to have the pride to win and also know how to lose.” As for the guard of honour for Real Madrid before this week's game, Rijkaard said “it is a tradition in Spain and simply a sporting act, it hurts, because we would have liked to have been the protagonists, but it is a sporting act”.