Samuel Eto’o defended coach Frank Rijkaard, who has been questioned after irregular play this season. “With him we’ve won everything and we’ll return to winning just about everything again,” Eto’o said Monday. “It’s a lack of respect that there is talk of replacing him halfway through the season.”Rijkaard guided Barcelona to league titles in 2005 and ‘06 — when the club also won the Champions League. But the Catalan club failed to win a trophy last season, surrendering the league title to Real Madrid after losing to Liverpool in the first knockout stage of the Champions League. The team are now five points behind Real Madrid in the league standings.

Former Barcelona great Johan Cruyff, who is said to advise Joan Laporta -FC Barcelona president, speculated that Marco van Basten would be a good choice to replace Rijkaard. “Van Basten also loves football and the same qualities as well as winning in a certain way,” Cruyff said. “As a player he played for some great teams and would not be overawed at all.”

But Cruyff said he was not calling for Rijkaard’s resignation. “Rijkaard has had a fantastic time and some fantastic results and has helped Barcelona become a club that everyone around the world likes again,” Cruyff remarked. “He has converted the club into an institution of good football. The fact that Barcelona did not have that a few years ago shows how hard he has worked.”

The reality is that FC Barcelona is alive in the three titles this season. They play Celtic in the first knockout stage of the Champions League on Wednesday. They are also in the semifinals of the Spanish Cup.

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FC reduced the gap with Real Madrid to five points, when there are still 14 games to be played -or 42 points. After a very irregular season, the team seem to realise that Real Madrid are not unbeatable, after they lost against two, theoretically, minor teams (Almeria, the revelation of the League, and Betis). Next weekend could be favorable to the Catalan team, as they play Levante (last classified) just before Real Madrid play Getafe in Bernabeu Stadium. FC Barcelona have closed four points in the last three games, which has increased the optimism of the squad. However, they need to understand that there is not any scope for further mistakes. The impact of the defeat against Real Madrid in Nou Camp that increased the gap to seven points was, as expected, difficult to overtake. However, seven League games afterwards, the reality is that the gap has closed up two points.

The target is to reach the game in Bernabeu Stadium (two before the last league game) with chances to overtake Real Madrid. There are 11 games to be played before that much expected “el clasico” in which the team have to face every game as a final, in order to reduce further the 5 points gap.

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