RIVALDO: I AM NOT A MACHINE

RIVALDO has responded to fans' criticism that he received during the Champions League game with Lyon in midweek - a match in which he missed a couple of clear chances, but eventually converted a penalty to make the tie safe.

The brilliant Brazilian has been injured and involved in a furious club versus country row that has seen Fifa involved and both sides threatening to take further action.

This has seen Rivaldo hit back at the jeers and whistles that accompanied him through the game against Lyon, saying: "It seems I have to be a machine.

"They demand more things from me because of everything I have achieved in football.  The fans want me to be able to decide every game, I am not allowed a bad game.

"They love me when the games end well, but sometimes the fans do not have patience and criticise me.

"I am making a great effort to play, to recover, to be well, to help Barcelona.  But I am in a complicated situation because I have been injured.  Whenever I have been injured there have been doubts.

"It is very complicated because people are always injuring themselves, not only in Barcelona and nothing is said.  One can never be injured.  It seems that I must be a machine and that I must be well in each game.

"It will not be the first nor the last time that people whistle me.  It is unsurprising that they whistle me because of everything that they read and they listen to; that I could miss the game against Real Madrid, that I went to Brazil to recover.

"Perhaps they have been upset by everything that has been published.  When we didn't score in the first ten minutes, the fans got upset with me.

"My only objective is to always be at the disposition of Barcelona and the coaching staff.  I am at peace on the field and I will try to do the best thing for Barcelona."