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04.01.2008 19:15
Four out of four for Rijkaard
Jesús Carrillo
Frank Rijkaard has an impressive record in away games against Real Mallorca and he will be hoping to add to that when he sends his Barça side out in the Onoe Estadi on Saturday evening.
The Dutch coach took over at Camp Nou at the start of the 2003-04 campaign and was quick to pick up his first three points against the Balearic outfit. In that first year Barça won 3-1, in the stadium that was then called Son Moix, thanks to goals from Javier Saviola, Ronaldinho and Phillip Cocu.
Eto’o returns
During the 2004-05 campaign FC Barcelona travelled to Palma as league leaders and saw Samuel Eto'o play his first game for the Blaugrana against his former club. Henrik Larsson put Barça ahead before Eto'o showed no nostalgic feelings as he netted a brace to give his new team a 3-1 victory.
Messi brace
A year later, Rijkaard's team went one goal better as they defeated Mallorca 3-0 as Ludovic Giuly put the visitors ahead in a game that saw Lionel Messi impress. The Argentinian, in his first game in the stadium, score dthe second and third goals of the evening.
Gudjohnsen double
Last term, Eto'o and Messi were unavailable so Eidur Gudjohnsen was given a chance to impress and the Icelandic international became the key player in the game as he scored the first two goals of the match as Barça went on to win 4-1. Andrés Iniesta and Santi Ezquerro added the third and fourth goals.
Five-in-a-row
The year before Frank Rijkaard took over as coach of FC Barcelona, the Catalan side won 4-0 in
Mallorca as Patrick Kluivert scored a hat-trick and Marc Overmars also netted. It was a good win
for Louis van Gaal, who was under pressure at the club. That win, added to the four under Rijkaard
means that Barça have won their last five consecutive visits to the Balearic island.
