Once again, Frank Rijkaard mounts the podium after another disappointing away game in the La Liga.


FC Barcelona's away disaster continued in Montujic when the Blaugrana were held to a 1-1 draw by hosts Espanyol after Barca went ahead with an Iniesta strike in the 6th minute, and could have been four goals up by half time, but only had themselves to blame after not being able to convert many chances throughout the 90 minutes of the encounter. A disappointed coach Rijkaard spoke to the press after the match, revealing his obsession to end the now established trend of a dismal away perforamnce:

It is necessary to put an end to this current dynamic and pick up an away win. We are working towards that.
After the first half, I thought we would, but we ended up dropping two points. However, there were positives, and we have to take something from that. We dominated and had chances, though in the second half Espanyol were more aggressive and showed that they are in great form.
We could not keep our calm amid their harassment. We defended too deep, while the forwards were too far forward, and we paid for it. With some more patience, we could have done more damage.

Frank Rijkaard spoke on Ronaldinho, who started the match on the bench and came on in the 64th minute, only four minutes before the Espanyol equaliser, after which it was too late to remedy the situation:

Ronaldinho is improving, he has good attitude and he is better physically. Hopefully, he will come to full recovery very soon.

The Dutchman also sopke on Argentine player, Lionel Messi, who lost two great chances that would have selaed victory for Barca in the second half:

Messi is a great player. His handling of the ball is incredible and he is spectacular, but with a little more experience, we would have won the game.

Barca dominated the Espanyol game and showed brilliance for most parts of the match, falling only to very poor finishing. The absence of Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o were clearly felt, though accolades must be poured on the efforst of Bojan Krkic, Andres Iniest and a brilliant fisrt half showing by Messi.