FRANK RIJKAARD'S five-year reign as Barcelona coach will end this month. He will be replaced by former captain Pep Guardiola.

Former Holland international Rijkaard (right) took over in 2003 and led Barca to back-to-back league titles and victory over Arsenal in the Champions League Final in Paris in 2006.

However, his side have failed to win any silverware for the past two seasons and suffered a humiliating 4-1 defeat by arch-rivals Real Madrid on Wednesday.

That defeat combined with Villarreal's victory over Recreativo Huelva means the Catalans will miss out on automatic qualification for the Champions League and cannot finish any higher than third in the Primera Liga.

"Frank has been the leader of the team that led us to glory in Paris, but the cycle is finished because the results haven't gone our way in the last two years," president Joan Laporta said.

Laporta, who made it clear that Rijkaard's assistants, Johan Neeskens and former player Eusebio, would also be leaving the club, said that Guardiola had been the board's unanimous choice.