Barcelona to replace coach Rijkaard with Guardiola

MASTERMIND: In this file photo Frank Rijkaard gestures against Espanyol during a Spanish league football match.

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Barcelona: FC Barcelona will replace coach Frank Rijkaard with former team captain Pep Guardiola at the end of the season.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said Rijkaard, who has been in charge for five years and was under contract until 2009, "had made history with Barcelona."

Rijkaard's coaching team, which includes Johan Neeskens, will also leave.

Laporta said he had informed Rijkaard of his dismissal on Thursday and that the coach had reacted "elegantly and also with great feeling."

The 37-year-old Guardiola won six league titles in 11 seasons as a midfielder with Barcelona.

"He has the knowledge, the optimism and the self-confidence to achieve success," Laporta said on Thursday.

A member of coach Johan Cruyff's "Dream Team" that won the 1992 European Cup, Guardiola has never held a senior coaching position.

Barcelona confirmed the coaching switch on their website.

"Joan Laporta has announced that Frank Rijkaard will end his stay at Barca at the end of the season.

Josep Guardiola, currently trainer to the B team, will take over as coach of FC Barcelona," the team said.

Rijkaard led the Catalan team to the league title in 2005. In the following year, Barcelona won both the league and the Champions League.

However, Barcelona are about to complete a second straight season without a major trophy and on Wednesday lost to champion Real Madrid 4-1.

The Catalan team trail Madrid by 17 points in third place, guaranteeing their worst finish in five years and making them play in the qualifying phase of the Champions League.

They were also recently eliminated by Manchester United in the Champions League semi-finals on a 1-0 aggregate.

Rijkaard has two matches remaining - against Mallorca and relegated Murcia - before he steps down on June 30.

Rijkaard, who won the European Cup as a player with Ajax and AC Milan as well as the European Championship with the Netherlands, was the fourth Dutchman to bring Barcelona a league title after Johan Cruyff, Louis van Gaal and Rinus Michels.