Madrid, February 13:

FC Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard is reportedly still awaiting an apology from striker Samuel Eto’o for refusing to play last Sunday.

Eto’o had been expected to offer Rijkaard an explanation of his behaviour at training on Monday. Instead, he stayed in the club gymnasium, apparently because of a painful knee, El Pais reported on Tuesday.

Rijkaard is likely to decide what action to take after he has spoken to the player. Eto’o risks being fined or even dropped from the squad for next Sunday’s game at Valencia.

The Cameroon striker wouldn’t leave the bench after assistant coach Eusebio Sacristan instructed him to prepare to enter as a late substitute in Barcelona’s 2-0 win over Racing Santander at Camp Nou stadium.

Eto’o has only recently returned from a four-month absence following a serious right knee injury he sustained in a Champions League match at Werder Bremen. The 26-year-old reappeared for five minutes at the end of Barcelona’s 0-0 draw with Osasuna on February 4 and reportedly felt he deserved more time on the field on Sunday.

The rift with Eto’o has arisen at a bad time for Barcelona which continues its Champions League title defense next week in the first leg of a second-round match against Liverpool. Barcelona is also aiming to retain its Spanish title and lift the Copa del Rey for the first time since 1998. The team has a three-point lead in the league but is 1-0 down against Zaragoza after the first leg of its quarter-final in Spain’s knockout competition at the end of the month.

Eto’o has scored 68 goals for FC Barcelona since arriving from Mallorca in 2004. He has been voted Africa’s top player for the last three years and finished third in the FIFA world player awards of 2005.