After a second consecutive season without any silverware — and a humiliating 4-1 drubbing by arch-rivals by Real Madrid into the bargain – Barcelona have tried to stem the rising tide of criticism of the club by announcing that former club captain Pep Guardiola is to take charge of the team at the end of the season.

It’s quite a gamble.

Over the past two seasons, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Marco van Basten, Juande Ramos and Ernesto Valverde have all been mentioned as possible replacements for Rijkaard, but the club have rejected the tried and tested contenders and gone for old boy Guardiola, whose coaching experience amounts to nothing more than a single season in charge of the club’s reserve team Barça B.

Given his Catalan credentials and close association with Johan Cruyff’s “dream team”, the appointment of Guardiola will be welcomed by some of the Nou Camp faithful, but he is hardly the sort of figure you would expect to take charge of a big team like Barça when they’re going through a Galactico-style meltdown.

Guardiola’s appointment could be a sign that Barça now realise their attempt to pack the team with big-name players was a foolish one and that they may now try to recruit more low profile figures to replace the likes of Ronaldinho.

But it is a risky strategy to ask a coach as inexperienced as Guardiola to try and pick up the pieces, construct a new side and deliver success in his first season in the big time.

Real Madrid tried a similar approach with coaches like Mariano Garcia Remon and Juan Ramon Lopez Caro, but both ended up being turfed out as they struggled to deal with the pressure and expectation. In the end it took the experienced Fabio Capello to get the team back on their feet.

Will Guardiola prove the sceptics wrong and make a success of his first major coaching job? He’ll need time to do it, and that may not be available. Maybe it’s a healthy sign that the club has gone for a former player, hungry to make his name in coaching. Or is it a case of being too scared to appoint a coach like Mourinho, who might be too headstrong and independent? Give is your thoughts in the comments below.

FILE PHOTO: Pep Guardiola during his presentation as Barcelona B team coach in 2007. REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino

According to a poll on Facebook, strikers Nicolas Anelka and Karim Benzema are favourites to be in France’s 23-man squad for Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria.

95.8 per cent of the Facebook addicts who drew their own list think Anelka should be included, 95.7 believe Benzema also has to be in the squad for June’s tournament.

Thierry Henry only comes in third with 94.3 per cent.

OK, there’s not much of a difference but a few months ago the Barcelona striker would have easily topped the charts.

Since he left Arsenal, Henry has made excuses for his poor form: he’s too far from his daughter since his divorce and he has been asked to play on the left flank.

In Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg with Manchester United, he came on as a substitute but made little impression as Barca bowed out.

What do you think of the Henry conundrum?

Julien Pretot, Paris

PHOTO: Barcelona’s Henry reacts during the Champions League semi-final second leg match against Manchester United at Old Trafford, April 29 REUTERS/Albert Gea

A great European night following the dull first leg last week but did Manchester United deserve to win over all?

They were negative in the 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp and defended deep for long spells on Tuesday after Paul Scholes’ rocket had given them the lead.

That said, Barca failed to really open up United in either leg despite the silky skills of Lionel Messi. Samuel Eto’o was largely anonymous at Old Trafford and Thierry Henry was poor after he came on.

Was this the last European game for Frank Rijkaard as Barcelona coach?

The first all-English Champions League final beckons….in Moscow. I guess it’s too late to switch it to Wembley.

Lets us know your views below

In our clip above, Cristiano Ronaldo says “football is like that sometimes” following his penalty miss in Manchester United’s 0-0 draw at Barcelona in Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg.

Our vlogonthepitch duo, Owen Wyatt and Jon Bramley, wonder whether the Portuguese maestro was a bit too relaxed in taking the spotkick and a bit too relaxed about missing it. Will it turn out to be crucial in next week’s second leg?

Leave a comment below in the usual way or post a video response to youtube or wherever, tag it “Vlog on the pitch” and we’ll load it up here if we like it.

The neutrals have no doubt. “Flop. Fear wins at the Nou Camp” was Gazzetta dello Sport’s view from Italy of the 0-0 draw between Barcelona and Manchester United in Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s early penalty soaring well wide of the goal summed up the whole night, with Barca pressing hard but failing to find that extra bit of inspiration to break the deadlock.

But can we expect anything more when the prize is so huge? Games in the previous two rounds such as Liverpool v Arsenal were surprisingly open given the importance of the Champions League these days.

Liverpool 3 AC Milan 3 in 2005 was a rare example of a great final. How may good World Cup finals have their been?

Players are only human and nerves at this stage are bound to play a part. That doesn’t mean games have to be dull for the purists. Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1 on Tuesday was not a classic but watching players stick to their positions and Rafa Benitez barking out tactical instructions still made it interesting.

Maybe the Italians, famous for their ultra conservative approach to soccer,  are just bitter Serie A teams have performed so poorly in the Champions League this term. 

Mark Meadows, Milan

Has it reached the stage where a Champions League semi-final is not enough to safeguard a coach’s job?

Avram Grant, whose Chelsea side visit Liverpool in their first leg on Tuesday, is under pressure despite his team stil having an outside chance of the Premier League title.

Boardroom squabbles mean Rafa Benitez is not 100 percent certain to be at Anfield next season while Barcelona’s Frank Rijkaard desperately needs a win against Manchester United on Wednesday to deflect attention from Primera Liga disappointment.

And what about poor Roberto Mancini? He is on the verge of leading Inter Milan to another scudettoand yet the papers are again full of talk that Jose Mourinho is San Siro-bound.

Surely the problems at PSG and Valencia show what real failure is like? Our dynamic duo Owen Wyatt and Jon Bramley discuss the pressure on coaches these days and want your views.  

Leave a comment below in the usual way or post a video response to youtube or wherever, tag it “Vlog on the pitch” and we’ll load it up here if we like it.

There’s speculation in Marca today that if AC Milan do complete a deal to sign Ronaldinho at the end of the season, they might be prepared to let Kaka move to Real Madrid.

That got me thinking about what the other knock-on effects might be, and especially about whether Barcelona would feel obliged to sign another big-name player as a replacement.

My own view is that this would be a good time for Barcelona to go down a different route. Ever since Joan Laporta took over as president they’ve pursued a relentless policy of buying in top names, from Ronaldinho to Deco, Samuel Eto’o and on to Thierry Henry.

For the first couple of seasons it worked very well, as the club regained their status as European heavyweights, won the league title and went on to claim the Champions League. Now, though, is surely the time to say enough is enough.

If Ronaldinho does go, the coach (whoever that might be) will still be able to call on Henry, Eto’o, Messi, Bojan and Giovani to fill the forward positions. And that’s the main difference between Barcelona now and Real Madrid when they were reaching the end of their ‘galactico’ era.

Real were so focused on their megastars that the squad as a whole had a threadbare look about it, which became increasingly obvious as time wore on. Barcelona have no such problems and if they manage to resist the temptation to throw money at another major forward it should just mean more space to grow for Bojan et al.

What do you reckon? Should Barcelona go out and sign a direct replacement — a Kaka, for example? Should they throw money at the Premier League to get a Torres or a Gerrard, Cesc Fabregas or even Cristiano Ronaldo (presumably untouchable, but you never know)? And while we’re at it, should Real Madrid pursue their interest in long-term target Kaka? Give us your ideas in the comments.

PHOTO: Kaka reacts during Milan’s Serie A game against AS Roma in Rome March 15, 2008. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

A Ronaldinho move to AC Milan now just seems to be a matter of time, after the club and the player’s agent both announced that personal terms have been agreed.

“There is a general agreement with the player,” Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani said on Saturday. ”Now a deal has to be reached with Barcelona. Give us time.”

When we last discussed this on the blog, the general feeling seemed to be that he should leave Barcelona asap. Whatever the reasons, it is a long time since the Brazilian has played consistently well for Barca and if a move elsewhere can help him rediscover the effortless brilliance of old, everyone who loves football will be happy.

Assuming the move goes ahead — and sorting out a deal between the two clubs may not be straightforward — the question remains whether Milan is the best place for him.

When Ronaldinho joined Barcelona he was basically on a rescue mission for the Catalan club, who had fallen so far behind Real Madrid that it was getting embarrassing.

It’s easy to forget now, but for the first few months at the Nou Camp he was not entirely successful. Sure, he showed more than a few flashes of brilliance, and he certainly brought the club the touch of glamour they so desired, but it was only when Edgar Davids came in mid-season that the team’s fortunes revived.

The arrival of the Dutchman seemed to relieve a bit of the weight from Ronaldinho’s shoulders and by the end of that season few people had any doubts that they were watching the world’s best player.

Milan are not in such bad shape as Barcelona were in 2003 but unquestionably they are no longer top dog in Italy. If Ronaldinho does go there, will the pressure to lead the revival prove too much for him? Or is it just the sort of challenge he needs? Give us your thoughts in the comments. 

PHOTO: Ronaldinho sits on the pitch during Barcelona’s Champions League game against Celtic at the Nou Camp, March 4, 2008. REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino

It was with more than the usual haste that I strode off from the Nou Camp after Frank Rijkaard’s customary non-committal news conference on the eve of Barcelona’s Champions League match against Schalke on Tuesday. Liverpool against Arsenal was being shown on terrestrial TV here in Spain and it was one of those games that you didn’t want to miss.

So I settled down to my usual Reuters expenses supper of a bottle of beer and a Kit Kat from the hotel minibar and wasn’t disappointed. For sheer breathless excitement, intensity and entertainment the match couldn’t be beaten. The game had the Spanish commentators gasping with delight at the football being played by both sides, the commitment from the players and the non-stop support from the fans.

The next day the Spanish media was awash with tributes to the English game, with sports daily AS even managing to bring in an unexpected reference to Nelson and Trafalgar in their editorial on the match.

The Admiral’s famous “England expects every man to do his duty,” was the motto of English football, said the paper’s director Alfredo Relaño.

“There may have been almost no English players on the pitch, but this was pure English football,” he said. “It was open, attacking football, full of commitment, enthusiasm, risk and nobility.

“The fact that there were few English players involved showed that this sort of football has nothing to do with genetics but with the atmosphere in the English game, one of respect, fair play, solidarity and a job well done. Players who in other leagues are cheats, moaners and defensive turn into exemplary competitors in England. This is how football should be played.”

Now Alfredo may have got a little carried away with his purple prose but there is little doubt that with three sides in the Champions League semi-finals for the second year in a row England is without doubt the dominant force in European club football (See Mike Collett’s analysis and lots of other stuff on our main soccer site).

The contrast with Spanish football at the moment couldn’t be sharper. Admittedly they still have two sides in European competitions, but the quality in La Liga has undergone a worrying downturn in the last two seasons.

The patient, short-passing game favoured by so many Spanish sides is past its sell-by date. The stop-start nature of matches in the Primera Liga does little to prepare teams for the intensity of European encounters, while the players are struggling to match with the sheer physicality of English-based players.

Where the best players were once clamouring to join Spanish sides, an increasing number are now looking to England first and it isn’t just because of the money on offer. Being part of a top English club now appears to offer the best chance of success in the continent’s elite competition.

I get the impression it is the same story in other European leagues. Is there anything they can do to stop the English domination?

Simon Baskett

PHOTO: Carlos Tevez scores with a diving header to give Manchester United a 1-0 win on the night and a 3-0 aggregate victory over AS Roma in their Champions League quarter-final. Roma were Italy’s last representatives in this year’s competition, April 9. REUTERS/Darren Staples

On Sunday night, after five years of calm, Barcelona fans finally exploded. The white handkerchiefs — a common way of showing frustration in Spain’s stadiums — were out, against the club president, the coach, the players … anybody involved in what seems set to be a second straight trophy-less year.

More precisely, Sunday’s exhibition was against the perceived apathy of millionaire players who appear to move ever more slowly, as if they weren’t in the match at all.

People have had enough.

Ronaldinho, the Brazilian who brought magic, enthusiasm and decisive goals two and three years ago to the Nou Camp, is now injured and will miss the most important matches of this very mediocre season. As for Thierry Henry, the fans have pretty much given up hope.

Only the youngsters Bojan and Giovanni seem hungry for titles, but their youth make it difficult for them to resolve the crucial matches at this point in the season.

Barcelona now face an “easy” quarter-final against Schalke 04, having won in Germany 0-1, but the fans aren’t excited. Winning and passing on to a probable semi-final against Manchester United isn’t an encouraging prospect to most fans, many of whom just want the season to end so changes can be made, heads can roll.

People are not hurt about the team not winning so much as what looks like a lack of interest and involvement. ”Menys millons i mes collons!” they shout. “Fewer millions and more balls.”

PHOTO: Henry takes a breather during the Getafe game, April 6, 2008. REUTERS/Albert Gea