Van Gaal gone as Rexach returns

Rexach wait
Rexach, Barcelona's technical director, will decide shortly whether he is to take up an offer from club president Joan Gaspart to lead the team for the rest of the campaign. "I am a club man, I know Van Gaal, I have travelled with the team, I know the players," he said. "So it would be logical for me to coach them. But it has to be the right decision for Barcelona." Rexach took charge of Barcelona last season after two previous spells as caretaker coach.

Separate ways
Earlier, the man he made way for last summer, Van Gaal, emerged to tell reporters gathered at Camp Nou that he was leaving the job. "After reflecting on the recent performances, and speaking with Joan Gaspart, we have decided it is in the best interests of the club that we go our separate ways," he said, before admitting that he had failed to "meet expectations" in the Ciudad Condal.

Financial settlement
While Gaspart said that he did not regret bringing the Dutchman back to the club last summer, the more important announcement from the club was that they had reached a financial settlement with Van Gaal, 51. Barcelona had declared their intention to sack the Dutchman last night - provided they could agree a pay-off fee, believed to be in the region of €4.5m, with the former AFC Ajax and Netherlands trainer.

Angry fans
Yesterday Barcelona held a board meeting to discuss the Dutchman's future following Sunday's 2-0 defeat at RC Celta de Vigo. Angry Barcelona fans had surrounded the team bus outside the Balaídos stadium in Vigo and demanded that the coach be fired. Similar scenes greeted the team's arrival back at Barcelona airport.

Poor show 
Barça have lost eight of their 19 league games and lie 12th in the Primera División table at the halfway stage of the season - their worst performance since 1987/88. After seeing his team beaten by second-half goals from Jesuli and Silvinho at Celta on Sunday, Van Gaal conceded that the performance had been typical of a disappointing campaign. "We worked hard but lacked a bit of brains and that cost us in the end," he said.

European success 
Only in Europe has the trainer enjoyed a level of success to compare with his first spell in charge at Camp Nou: the Catalan side having won all ten of their UEFA Champions League matches this term and sharing the lead in their second group stage section, Group A, with Internazionale FC.

Title triumphs 
Van Gaal returned to Barcelona last May, two years after he was invited to leave at the close of the 1999/00 campaign, when the Blaugrana finished second in the league behind RC Deportivo La Coruña. However, his first two seasons as coach had ended in triumph, with Barça lifting the Spanish title in both 1998 and 1999.