'Special one' snubbed by Barcelona'
The "special one" is not the chosen one. Barcelona have
decided not to appoint Jose Mourinho as their first-team coach for
next season despite him being the overwhelming choice of the club's
supporters.
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The club's "delegate commission" – in effect, its board of
directors – has provisionally agreed to give Frank Rijkaard's job
to current reserve team coach and former player Pep Guardiola at
the end of the season despite the fact that the 37-year-old only
has one year's coaching experience.
The decision, yet to be officially confirmed by the club, will
move Mourinho increasingly closer to Serie A where
Internazionale now look like becoming his next
destination.
The former Chelsea manager wanted the Barcelona job and the
people wanted Mourinho but ultimately there were certain barriers
that could not be overcome. In the middle of Chelsea's epic battles
with Barcelona under Mourinho, he famously said he did not need to
learn how to lose a Champions League final 4-0 – referring to the
final Johan Cruyff's Barcelona side lost to Milan in 1994.
Now Guardiola, the captain of Cruyff's so-called dream team from
that era is the man who replaces Rijkaard, and not Mourinho.
Mourniho did have his supporters at the Nou Camp and Sporting
Director Txiki Begiristain is understood to have met with him in
January. But certain conditions that might have helped the
pro-Mourinho camp persuade the doubters were not met. It is
rumoured that working as part of a team with a young in-house
coach, possibly Guardiola, was rejected by Mourinho who saw a move
to pick his coaching staff for him as undermining his authority
before he had even started.
For the outgoing Rijkaard there will be no shortage of suitors
with one of his former clubs, Milan, a possible option. In an
exclusive interview with The Independent two weeks ago he did not
rule out linking up with his old Ajax pal Frank Arnesen and his
former Barça second-in-command Henk Ten Cate at Chelsea.
Rijkaard first has the small matter of a clasico with Real
Madrid to deal with. It is a must-win match for a side in danger of
missing out on automatic qualification for the Champions League
group stage.
The match will see Thierry Henry return to the Santiago
Bernabeu, where he scored one of the goals of the season in 2006 to
help Arsenal knock Real Madrid out of that competition.
This time he will be part of a guard of honour as tradition
forces Barcelona to salute the newly-crowned Champions as they take
to the pitch.
Recalling that famous goal two years ago, he said: "I have a
good memory from that game but it was in another team, in another
match and in another competition. Let's see if I can repeat
it."
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