Once again a single goal from Thierry Henry was enough to get Barça through a round of the Copa del Rey. Having scored Barça's only goal in two games against Sevilla in the last 16, Henry's header before half time gave Barça a 1-0 aggregate win over Villarreal to secure a place in tomorrow's semi-final draw.

Henry got the goal, and Ronaldinho made his long awaited return when he came on for the last 15 minutes, but the star of the night was Leo Messi who caused the Villarreal headaches all night with his dribbling skills and provoked the sending-off of Pascal Cygan. Frank Rijkaard selected his strongest team with Milito and Abidal returning to the defence which was solid all night, giving Victor Valdés one of his easier nights in goal.

The first half was quite cagey with Villarreal a...

Barça lost two vital points in their visit to San Mames thanks to their failure to score a second goal. Bojan Krkic put Barça ahead in the 35th minute but an own goal from Lilian Thuram in the 79th minute left Barça regretting their lack of fire power. Frank Rijkaard will no doubt be questioned for leaving out Abidal and Milito especially as Athletic's goal came down the left-hand side.

Rijkaard also decided to play the three pequeños in midfield and after just two minutes the lack of a strong defensive midfielder was evident when Orbaiz was allowed to shoot unchallenged from 25 yards forcing Valdés into a diving save. Barça were imprecise in the early minutes and didn't come close to Athletic's goal until the 17th minute when Messi received a throw-in and turned inside befor...

Barça gave a vastly improved performance from the last time they visited El Madrigal and were perhaps unlucky not to achieve more than a 0-0 draw to take into next Thursday's second leg at Camp Nou. Carles Puyol had to pull out hours before kick off due to a heavy cold which meant a game for Lilian Thuram in defence, and Frank Rijkaard preferred to reserve Leo Messi for the second half.

Barça started the game in determined mood and showed the aggression and concentration needed against an opponent of the level of Villarreal. After just five minutes Deco crossed to Iniesta who tried to dribble through a crowd of defenders and the ball broke back to Thierry Henry but his side-footed shot went just wide. Villarreal had their first shot in the 12th minute but Valdés saved easily from Nihat's ...

A goal after half an hour from Thierry Henry was enough to see off an organized but unambitious Racing Santander. Leo Messi returned after five weeks out injured to play the last twenty-five minutes and lift a pretty ordinary performance from Barça. After Real Madrid's win in their game against Atletico this was a vital win for Barça to stay in contention for this season's league championship.

Frank Rijkaard once again chose to rest some key players with an eye on next week's Cup game at Villarreal. Xavi, Marquez and Abidal all started on the bench along with Messi and new goalie Pinto. For the first time both teenage strikers Bojan and Giovani started a game together alongside Henry in attack.

However, Barça started slowly and Racing created the first attacks of the game with Oriol h...

Barça are through to the last eight of this season's Copa Del Rey on the away goals rule after an intense 0-0 draw at Camp Nou with Sevilla. Thierry Henry's goal in the 1-1 draw last Wednesday in the Sanchez Pizjuan now counts double and means the end of Sevilla's fantastic run in cup competitions. This is the first cup tie they have lost in two years having won last season's Spanish Cup and the Uefa Cup for the last two seasons.

In a frenetic game of few chances there was very little to divide the sides. After just 18 seconds Sevilla created their first chance but Chevanton could not make full contact with Alves's cross from the right. In the fourth minute a good first time pass from Gudjohnsen sent Iniesta scurrying towards goal but his shot didn't curl enough and went past ...

Samuel Eto'o leaves tomorrow to join up with the Cameroon national team for the African Cup of Nations, but he left us with two goals to let us remember what we will be missing. Thierry Henry had probably his best game at Camp Nou setting up two of the second half goals.

Frank Rijkaard gave a rest to Abidal, Milito and Iniesta which meant a start for Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram in defence. Rafa Marquez was given the defensive midfield role, and Bojan Krkic started on the right side of the attack. Eto'o and Henry changed positions to great effect throughout the match

The game started evenly with both sides creating chances in the first ten minutes. Samuel Eto'o had two early attempts on goal, first with a speculative shot on five minutes and then two minutes later he forced Murc...

Barça earned a valuable 1-1 draw in the first leg of the Copa del Rey tie with Sevilla tonight in the Sanchez Pizjuan. Thierry Henry, who is beginning to look like the striker Barça hoped for, scored the opener after 24 minutes, but poor defending at a corner just before half time allowed Capel the space to equalize.

Frank Rijkaard kept faith in Giovani dos Santos in the starting lineup, and Iniesta moved back into midfield in place of Gudjohnsen in order to allocate Henry in attack. Both the Frenchman and the Mexican gave hard-working battling performances, the type of thing we usually expect from Samuel Eto'o who had a somewhat quiet game.

Perhaps the best game of the night for Barça came from Edmilson who apart from a mistake in the first minute that led to Luis Fabian...

Before tonight's game there had been an exchange of declarations between Samuel Eto'o and Frank Rijkaard. Eto'o claimed that Barça just had to win, it didn't matter how; Rijkaard replied, reminding Eto'o of Barça's style, by saying that you don't lose when you play well. Barça's performance tonight gave the impression that the team had been listening to Eto'o more than to Rijkaard.

For the first hour, this was a very poor game, defences were easily on top and neither goalkeeper had needed to make a difficult save. Then out of the blue, Rafa Marquez headed in a Xavi corner and suddenly Barça were in control. A fine shot from Eto'o in injury time gave Barça a slightly flattering 0-2 scoreline at the end.

The first half was extremely dull, Güiza had a half chance for Mallorca on 9 minutes...

Two goals in the last 25 minutes gave Alcoyano a deserved 2-2 draw tonight in the second leg of the Copa del Rey tie. Santi Ezquerro had started the night well for Barça scoring twice in the first ten minutes. Barça progress to the last sixteen of the competition thanks to their 0-3 win in the first leg.

More than anything this game demonstrated what is wrong with the Copa del Rey format. By seeding the big teams and playing these ties over two legs you are bound to get meaningless games like this. Once Barça had gone 2-0 up on the night (5-0 in the tie) they were always going to relax. The final result will only serve to increase the general feeling of doom that many fans are expressing. At least tonight Ronaldinho can't be blamed.

Barça played reasonably well in the first half wit...

It hurts me to say this, but Madrid were worthy winners. A goal from Julio Baptista after 35 minutes earned them the victory that puts them seven points clear at the top for a white Christmas. Deco and Ronaldinho both started from the beginning, but it seems that any attempt by Frank Rijkaard to confuse the opposition and the press over his team selection only served to confuse his own players.

Apologies to anyone hoping for a full match report but my heart isn't in it tonight. Suffice to say that Madrid played very well at preventing Barça from attacking and Barça were only capable of creating one real chance in the whole game. That came after 33 minutes when Iniesta, who was Barça's best player, crossed from the right to Ronaldinho whose shot was well saved by Casillas.

Two minutes la...