CLEAR-OUT: Frank Rijkaard (left) may not join Lionel Messi at the Nou Camp next season following Barcelona's decline over the past two years. Barca may even be condemned to the Champions League qualifiers next season. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Just do not ask him to watch it.

After his team lost 0-1 to Manchester United on Tuesday, he said: 'English teams are very difficult to beat - very strong and very disciplined.

'But it's a pity, because the English teams have a lot more to give on the pitch to the public. It's strange to see them defending, defending and defending with their lives. It is not the most beautiful way of football.'

His comments also seemed to highlight his own credentials to potential employers, including Chelsea's Roman Abramovich, who hungers for attractive football at Stamford Bridge.

But Rijkaard insisted: 'I have no intention of leaving.'

But his removal from the hot seat at the Nou Camp is now regarded as inevitable in Catalonia, after the club's decline over the past two seasons since beating Arsenal for the European Cup.

'This team is finished,' was the banner headline plastered on the front page of Barcelona-based daily Sport yesterday.

'It's the end of an era,' said rival El Mundo Deportivo.

Even before the Champions League semi-final second leg, the Catalan media had called for a clear-out of the squad. The loss at Old Trafford added new urgency to the call.

Ronaldinho already has one foot out the door, but midfielder Deco, defenders Rafael Marquez, Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram, and striker Thierry Henry are also likely discards.

'Each one of us bears part of the blame,' Deco said. 'A club like Barcelona can't go two years without winning a trophy.

'In the league, we have slipped up at key moments and we haven't been able to reach any final. We have to think carefully now.'

At the start of the season, with the arrival of Henry from Arsenal, the talk had been of a 'fantastic four' in an attack comprising the French striker, Samuel Eto'o, Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho.

Unsettled by his divorce with his model wife and struggling with his new position on the left flank, Henry has flopped. Eto'o has, once again, been hampered by injury and a lack of confidence.

Messi's campaign has also been disrupted by injury. Although he was Barca's most dangerous player, the absence of Ronaldinho meant he had even more markers on him.

Ronaldinho has fitness and weight problems, a mysterious succession of injuries and an apparent lack of motivation. Also, a love for the nightlife has meant that the former World Player of the Year has taken almost no part in the current campaign.

Unless Barca can beat a revived Valencia and Real Madrid in their next two La Liga games, they will almost certainly be condemned to playing in the Champions League qualifiers next season.

Yet there was still some defiance.

Said midfielder Xavi: 'We, not United, deserved to reach the Champions League final.

'People talked about a battle between Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi. I thought I played better than the Portuguese. It came down to that goal by Paul Scholes.'

But as Rijkaard admitted: 'The rules of the game are that the team who score go through. And United scored.'

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS