Barcelona 1 - Mallorca 1

Barcelona: Reina; Gabri, Frank De Boer, Reiziger, Sergi; Guardiola, Cocu; Zenden (Santamaría 70'), Rivaldo, Overmars; Kluivert. 4-2-3-1.
Mallorca: Leo Franco; Olaizola, Fernando Niño, Nadal, Miguel Soler; Novo (Carreras 85'), Engonga, Marcos, Ibagaza (Armando 65'); Eto'o, Luque (Biagini 80'). 4-4-2.

Team changes: Barcelona: Reiziger, Zenden for Abelardo, Luis Enrique / Mallorca: Novo for Finidi.

Goals:
1-0. 61. Rivaldo (own goal). Deflected hard Novo free kick past own keeper.
1-1. 74. Rivaldo (penalty). After Fernando Niño ruled to have fouled Kluivert.

Barcelona lost ground with the top three after drawing at home against fifth placed Mallorca. With only three points separating the two sides before kick off, a victory by the Balearic Island side would have taken them above their opponents and up to fourth place. However Barcelona hung on to maintain the status quo, thanks in part to some dubious refereeing decisions which this week went in favour of the Catalans. With Luis Enrique nursing an injury and Abelardo possibly out to the end of the season after a knee operation, Serra Ferrer kept to the same block who played in Thursday's UEFA cup tie, with Rivaldo returning from international duty and Zenden keeping his place on the unfamiliar right wing. Luis Aragonés only made one change to his starting line up, with Novo coming in on the right wing for Finidi, who had been called up by Nigeria.

Rivaldo celebrated his return by scoring twice, although only one counted towards his overall tally for the season. The other was scored in his own net early in the second half as he tried to clear Novo's fiercely struck free kick. Up to that point Barcelona had dominated against a Mallorca who were looking to win the match on the counter attack, with Leo Franco stopping all and sundry, including early efforts by Kluivert and Overmars. He continued on in the same vein after the interval, keeping out Cocu and Zenden before he was finally beaten from the penalty spot by Rivaldo after Andradas Asurmendi ruled that Fernando Niño had brought down Kluivert.

It was a questionable decision, the Dutch striker appearing to fall before he was touched, and given that the referee turned down two or three more obvious appeals from Mallorca for penalties there was a great deal of comment after the match. Barcelona felt hard done by last week after Rivaldo's goal was disallowed against Real Madrid, but the complaints this time came from Mallorca, with Aragonés getting himself booked for insulting the referee after Reina brought down Eto'o in the penalty area three minutes before the end of the game. Luque, celebrating his 23rd birthday, had to leave the field on a stretcher ten minutes from time with what looked like a serious injury, although he was released from the clinic afterwards without much damage done. In the end though honours were shared, and Mallorca keep up their incredible record against the big three this season, having now won three and drawn two, with Real Madrid to visit the San Moix stadium next week. Barcelona have a game before that though, the UEFA cup return leg at Celta, and if nothing else must be thankful that nobody else was injured.