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...

A superb 0-3 win for Barça last night was spoiled by the injury to Leo Messi which will mean he misses next week's Barça-Madrid and probably the first games of 2008. On the plus side was a fantastic performance from Samuel Eto'o who scored the first two goals for Barça.

Barça went all out for the three points from the kick-off and Valencia were never in the game. After just three minutes Messi found Eto'o in space but the striker's first touch let him down and gave Cañizares time to collect. Toure had a header tipped over after a Xavi corner. Then after 12 minutes Barça went ahead. Samuel Eto'o, in typical never-say-die fashion, chased a ball that went easily to Cañizares, whether it was the sight of Eto'o charging towards him or just his poor control I couldn't say, but Cañizares...

For the second time in a week Barça had to come from behind after conceding an early goal. In an entertaining encounter, Da Silva had put Stuttgart ahead after just two minutes but Giovani dos Santos equalized before half time and second half goals from Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho kept Barça's 100% home record intact.

The only bad news for Barça was that Deco pulled out of the game after noticing a twinge during the warm-up, his place was taken by Xavi. At the moment I've heard no further news on Deco but it seems he didn't play as a precaution, hopefully he will be OK for Saturday's visit to Valencia.

Just as in Sunday's game with Deportivo Barça conceded a very early goal, and once again the goalkeeper might have done more to save it. Milito gave away a free kick 25 yards out, Da Silva...

A penalty converted by Ronaldinho Gaucho and a second half goal from Xavi Hernandez gave Barça a narrow victory over a hard working Deportivo at Camp Nou tonight. The game was not pretty but Barça fans will be delighted with the return to the team of Samuel Eto'o and Deco.

Eto'o played from the beginning and battled for 63 minutes before Frank Rijkaard substituted him for Bojan. Deco came on in the second half for a disappointing Zambrotta, and played at a decent level, Barça definitely benefitted from the reshuffle that his entrance produced.

Barça began the game with Rafa Marquez playing just in front of the defence, with Xavi and Iniesta also in midfield. Ronaldinho returned to the team, as did Zambrotta which meant Puyol moved back to central defence alongside Gabi Milito....

Honours were shared tonight on Montjuic as Barça drew 1-1 with Espanyol in a thrilling derby which could have gone either way. Barça now find themselves four points behind Real Madrid but they will be heartened by a good performance away from home. They will surely win more away games if they continue to play like they did tonight.

For the second consecutive game Ronaldinho Gaucho started on the substitutes bench which meant another start in attack for Bojan Krkic while Eidur Gudjohnsen continued in midfield. The only change from the team that started in Lyon was the introduction of Rafa Marquez for Gianluca Zambrotta. Marquez played in central defence with Carles Puyol moving to right back. 

Barça took only six minutes to take the lead. Messi received the ball out by the touchline...

An early goal from Andres Iniesta and a second half penalty from Leo Messi were enough to earn Barça a draw in an intense encounter in Lyon. Ronaldinho was left on the bench for the first time in a game that mattered since joining Barça which meant a start for both Bojan Krkic and Eidur Gudjohnsen. The point means Barça have now definitely finished top of Group E thanks to Stuttgart beating Rangers in the group's other game tonight.

Barça began with a goal in their first attack. Xavi gave the ball to Messi who took the ball forward 20 metres, the Lyon defence were all watching Messi which gave Bojan room on the right, when Messi passed to Bojan the youngster delivered a superb low centre towards Iniesta who also found space running in from the left, Iniesta met the ball with a firm si...

I read somewhere this week that Barça hadn't scored a goal from a corner since a Rafa Marquez goal at Betis back in January. This was on my mind today as Barça struggled to penetrate the Recreativo defence, eleven corners went Barça's way in the first hour without creating any danger. Then in the 64th minute Xavi sent over Barça's twelfth corner of the game and it was met by a superb header from Gabi Milito that flew into the net to open the scoring.

As had been suggested Barça began without Ronaldinho who didn't even get a place on the bench. Gudjohnsen got the start he deserved for some good recent performances but unfortunately it was not going to be his day. Barça started slowly and didn't create anything until the 13th minute when Iniesta, playing on the left, cut inside to unleash a...