FC Barcelona entertain RCD Mallorca this Friday at 9.00pm CST, so here’s the lowdown on the visiting club.
WHERE ARE THEY FROM?
The Mediterranean island of Mallorca, visited by some 28 million mainly sun-seeking tourists every year, needs little introduction. The football club are based in the capital, Palma de Mallorca, with its wonderful cathedral and old town.
HISTORY
Founded in 1916, the first of many first division appearances for RCD Mallorca came in 1960, but they would not be a regular feature until they spent 16 seasons among the elite from 1997 to 2013, In that period, they also reached the 1998 Copa del Rey Final, losing to Barça on penalties, the fatal Mallorca kick being missed by a former Barça player, Xabier Eskurza.
Five years later came the club’s proudest hour of all when they won the Copa del Rey in 2003, with two goals in the final against Huelva scored by a man who would later be a legend at Barça, Samuel Eto’o.
In 2017, they dropped down to the third tier Division 2B, but the recovery has been spectacular and they are now La Liga regulars once again.
HEAD TO HEAD
Back in the 1999-2000 season, Mallorca beat Barça both home and away, but in 32 league meetings since then, Barça have only lost to the islanders three times (and twice at home), although all of those were late season encounters when there wasn’t much to play for.
In fact, Barça’s 78% win rate against Mallorca this century is their best against any club. And they have now scored at least once against Mallorca in 29 consecutive games. Only against Levante (32) do Barça have a longer scoring run.
But after Barça scored at least four goals in four consecutive meetings with Mallorca, the last five games have been much closer affairs, three of them decided by a single goal, while the game at San Moix earlier this season ended in a 2-2 draw, ending a run of 11 straight victories for the Catalans in this match-up.
Mallorca twice took the lead in that match, with Barça responding through Raphinha and then the first ever Liga goal for Fermin López.
Last five meetings (all La Liga)
26/09/23 Mallorca 2-2 Barça
28/05/23 Barça 3-0 Mallorca
01/10/22 Mallorca 0-1 Barça
01/05/22 Barça 2-1 Mallorca
02/01/22 Mallorca 0-1 Barça
FORM GUIDE
Despite only winning one of their first 15 league games this season, Mallorca managed to pick up enough draws to never quite drop into the relegation zone. The results since December have been a little better, including an impressive 1-0 defeat of second placed Girona last week, and although they are still in the bottom quarter, there is a relatively safe cushion of points between them and the drop-zone.
What 2023/24 has really been about has been their Copa del Rey run. Another win over Girona got the islanders into the quarter finals, and there they beat Real Sociedad in a penalty shootout last week to reach the final for only the third time in club history.
THE PLAYERS
Most capped internationals
Cyle Larin (Canada, 65), Vedat Muriqi (Kosovo, 51), Nemanja Radonjić (Serbia, 44), Predrag Rajković (Serbia, 30), Matija Nastasić (Serbia, 34), Giovanni González (Uruguay,17), Martin Valjent (Slovakia, 12), Dominik Greif (Slovakia, 4)
THE BOSS
Javier Aguirre, who played 59 times for his country Mexico, is one of the most respected coaches in world football, having managed the national teams of Mexico, Egypt and Japan, as well as various Spanish clubs, best known for guiding Osasuna to a fourth place finish in La Liga and for his three seasons in charge of Atlético Madrid.
This will be the 15th time Aguirre has coached a team away to Barça and he is still looking for his first win. With Osasuna, Atlético Madrid, Real Zaragoza, Espanyol, Leganés and Mallorca he has conceded as many as 43 goals and only seen his own teams score seven, and in ten visits his teams have failed to score a single goal.
