09.10.2010 12:06
One of the best starts on the road
Edgar Fornós
Barça have enjoyed one of their best starts to a campaign on the road in the last 20 years, with all three away games won, equalling the starts to the 2009/10, 2006/07, 1997/98 and 1990/91 seasons.
Whilst Pep Guardiola’s team have not got the results at the Nou Camp, the wins at El
Sardinero, Vicente Calderón and San Mames mean they have taken maximum points from the opening
three away games of La Liga season.
Echoes of last season
In last season’s astonishing 99 point championship winning season, Barça also won their
first three games on the road, defeating Getafe 0-2, Racing 1-4 and Malaga 0-2 at La Roseleda.
Great start, but no title
It
was a similar story in the 2006/7 season, but the great start to the season didn’t lead to a
La Liga title that year. At Balaídos Eto’o, Messi and Gudjohnsen’s goals gave the team
the three points whilst at El Sardinero –again – they won 0-3 and beat Bilbao 1-3 in
the Basque country.
Van Gaal’s first year
Louis Van Gaal made a great start to his 1997/98 team with three away wins against: Valencia
(0-3), Sporting (1-4) and Mallorca (0-1) in a season in which Barça took the title four games
before the end of the season.
The Dream Team
In their first title winning season, the Dream Team started the league campaign in 1990
strongly with three away wins at Sarria against Espanyol(0-1), 2-3 against Betis and 0-1 in
Tenerife.
It’s how you finish that counts!
If ever there was a time when the saying that it’s not how you start, but how you finish that
counts could be applied, it’d have to be the 1974 season, when Johan Cruyff’s Barça
lost all three of their opening away game - against Elche (1-0), Celta (2-1) and Real
Sociedad(2-1), before going on to lift the club’s first league title in 14 years.