How Sevilla began the decline of Ronaldinho, Rijkaard & Barca in 2006

The Catalans face the Andalusians in an identical Uefa Super Cup clash nine years on - but Luis Enrique's men will want to forget the last time they met in the European showpieceIt seems so long ago now. Barely three months after winning the Champions League for the first time (their 1992 crown had been the last in the old European Cup format), Barcelona were well beaten by Sevilla in the 2006 Uefa Super Cup - a defeat that marked the beginning of the end for Frank Rijkaard's impressive team.

Rijkaard's assistant Henk ten Cate had departed that summer to coach Ajax and the good cop/bad cop alliance was split: without his trusty and more strict sidekick, Rijkaard lost control of his players. The balance was gone, the discipline lacking - and Barca won only the Spanish Supercopa in his final two seasons in charge.

Having beaten city rivals Espanyol 4-0 over two legs to claim that title, Rijkaard's men were expected to overcome Sevilla in Monaco but were behind after only seven minutes and were outfought by a Sevilla side including a dynamic Dani Alves - Man of the Match two years before making his move to Camp Nou.



Victor Valdes was partly responsible for both of the first two goals, but was not helped by a flat-footed defence that failed to pick up Sevilla's strikers. And further forward, the front three of Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o was deprived of sufficient service. They lost 3-0 on the night - and it could have been even worse.

A day before the match, Barca's players had been receiving awards at a Uefa gala while Sevilla prepared for the game. And on the day of the Super Cup clash itself, Ronaldinho angered his head coach and some of his team-mates by taking part in the filming of a mobile phone advert.







"It hasn't got anything to do with the result," he said afterwards. "I was only there for 20 minutes and we lost the game for football reasons."

Back then, Ronaldinho was the main man at Camp Nou, but the brilliant Brazilian fell into decline in 2006-07 and as his form dipped, so too did Barca's hopes of winning the major titles: the Catalans lost to Liverpool in the last 16 of the Champions League, threw away a 5-2 first-leg lead to Getafe in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey and allowed Real Madrid to come back from the dead and snatch La Liga on the final day.



And after the Super Cup defeat, president Joan Laporta was not amused. "There are some players who haven't had the commitment we wanted," he said. "Some have been too relaxed in terms of professionalism and desire."

The next season saw more near misses as Barca lost to Valencia in the semi-finals of the Copa, succumbed to Manchester United in the last four of the Champions League and ended up third in La Liga.

For Ronaldinho, it had been a forgettable campaign. The Brazilian's final season at the Catalan club was easily his worst, yielding only 26 appearances and nine goals in all competitions as he struggled for fitness and looked overweight. Worse still, he had lost the confidence to take players on as his party lifestyle clearly took its toll.

Rijkaard soon departed and, when Pep Guardiola replaced him as coach later that summer, Ronaldinho was also moved on. A new era dawned and greatness beckoned - but only after a depressing decline that started just where Barcelona find themselves right now: up against Sevilla in the Uefa Super Cup.