FCBARCELONA.CAT

16.09.2007 23:52

Rijkaard: “This does not reflect the work we are doing”

Anna Segura

The Barça manager has admitted that the team lacked freshness against Osasuna in much the same way as they did in Santander. He also felt that the international games his players had just played had a negative effect on the team.

Barça picked up one more point from the trip to Osasuna (0-0). Frank Rijkaard feels the result “doesn’t reflect the work we are doing” and referring to the negative impact of the various international commitments, commented that “we haven’t been able to work with the full squad for two weeks and it’s not easy that way”.

Different image

The Dutchman knows his team needs a change of face. “We want to play better” he said. “When Barça are on form we present a different image, and we weren’t able to do that today”. Barça now have five points and are four points adrift of the leaders.

Rijkaard is not worried about the distance between his side and Real Madrid: “The league has only just started. We just have to concentrate on getting points and getting fitter. There are plenty more games to come. In the end, we will find out whether this point was important”.

Changing Ronaldinho

Asked why he took Ronaldinho off in the 65th minute and replaced him with Xavi, the Barça boss said it was to do with the fact that he had been doing so much travelling with his national side in recent days. He added that “when we make changes we have to analyse and protect our players”. He is quite aware that on Wednesday Barcelona have another important match, this time against Olympique Lyon in the Champions League.