28.01.2011 11:56

Rico Pérez, a tough destination for Barça

David Puig

Barça do not have the best of records at the Rico Pérez. A glance back at the history books shows that they have only won 6 of their 19 league games played at the Hercules ground. The defeat in 96/97 was the one that hurt the most.

Josep Guardiola was quite right to say that Saturday’s trip to Alicante won’t be an easy one . History is against them. Other than those six wins, the other games at the Rico Pérez have ended in eight draws and five defeats, and some of the latter were particularly painful.

Goodbye to the league in 97

Under Bobby Robson, Barça lost almost all hope of beating Fabio Capello’s Real Madrid in the chase for the league title in 96/97. With three games to go, Madrid were two points ahead of the Catalans, and Barça needed to win every game and hope their rivals slipped. With Hercules already relegated, this game didn’t look too complicated, but with Ronaldo away playing for Brazil at the Copa America, the team lacked its cutting edge and came away empty handed.

Hercules won 2-1 with goals from Paquito and Pavlicic after the visitors had taken an early lead through Luis Enrique. The starting eleven that night included current manager Josep Guardiola, one of the few players that performed as expected in a game Robson described as “the worst of the season”. Real Madrid moved five points ahead of Barcelona, and although Barça did win their next two matches, Madrid made no mistake and went on to claim the championship.

Barça lose first match ball under Venables

There was a similar situation under a different English manager on March 17, 1985, when Barça were hoping to celebrate the league title at the Rico Pérez. A win for the side coached by Terry Venables would be enough to secure their first title for eleven years. But it wasn’t to be. Barça had only lost one game all season, but were stunned by a goal from Cartagena from the penalty spot after Schuster brought down Latorre with just two minutes to go. It was a poor display from Barça, who even failed to make the extra man count following the sending off of Sanabria. But despite that defeat, Barcelona did go on to win the title, for one week later came that memorable “I love you Urruti” win against Valladolid.

Hercules again deny Barça title

On March 7, 1982, Barça threw away a golden opportunity to as good as settle the league title at Hercules. Their rivals in the title hunt, Real Sociedad had lost at the Vicente Calderón and a Barça win would have opened a gap of seven points between them and the Basques, with seven games to go in the days when wins still only won a team two points.

Barça were winning 2-0 after 20 minutes thanks to a brace from Quini, but then eased off and allowed Hercules to pounce. Goals from Abad and Segundo tied the match and things went downhill from there. Ormachea’s side eventually won the championship.