Barcelona manager fired

Updated 09.33 Fri May 09 2008

Keywords: Frank rijkaard, barcelona, Guardiola

Manager Frank Rijkaard is to leave Barcelona after failing to secure silverware for a second successive season.

Former Barca player Pep Guardiola will replace him as first team coach, after steering Barcelona B, the club's reserve team, to the top of their group in Spain's regionally-based tercera fourth tier division.

Former Barca player Pep Guardiola will replace Rijkaard as first team coach

Guardiola brings with him a colourful history with the club that extends back to the days of Johan Cruyff in 1990.

He won the league title for the first time with Barcelona in 1991 and the team went on to win the league title in the next three successive seasons. He was also part of the team that won the club's first European Cup in 1992.

He helped Spain to a gold medal in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, but was sidelined by a serious knee injury, ruling him out of the 1998 World Cup.

His career in Serie A in Italy was disrupted when he tested positive for nandrolone after a league match against Piacenza a month later. He protested his innocence and went through the courts to clear his name after being banned for four months. He eventually won his case in October 2007.