Rijkaard cracks the whip at Barca superstars

BARCELONA coach Frank Rijkaard appears to have lost some of his cool exterior and gave his players a rude wake-up call two days after their 2-2 draw with Chelsea.

According to Spanish press reports Rijkaard had his players running five times around their training ground after becoming annoyed that they were not taking Thursday’s training seriously enough.

Tuesday’s result has left Barcelona fighting for their Champions League survival, which they will hope to assure with results against Sofia in three weeks time and Bremen two weeks later.

The players were quick to play down any notion of a conflict, with Gio van Bronckhorst: “There wasn’t any punishment. We’ve already done that (kind of training).”

Some reports suggest that Rijkaard, a former European champion with Holland and Champions League winner with AC Milan, is out to imitate Fabio Capello, the coach of arch rivals Real Madrid.

Barcelona recently lost 2-0 to Real Madrid but are still top of the league and face Deportivo tonight.