Angry Rijkaard gives Barca players wake-up call

Barcelona's coach Frank Rijkaard gestures after losing to Real Madrid in a Spanish league match in Madrid in October 2006. 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.

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 session seriously enough.

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

On Friday the players were quick to play down any notion of a conflict, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Andres Iniesta saying on the club's website: "There wasn't any punishment. We've already done 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 the rather unforgiving Fabio Capello, the coach of arch rivals Real Madrid.

Barcelona recently lost 2-0 to Real Madrid but are still top of the Spanish league and face Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday.