In an attempt to find out what is happening with regards to this week's kick off times I had a look this morning at the websites of the Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) and of the Real Federacion Española de Futbol (RFEF). The LFP has a special note on the subject saying that the Athletic-Barça game has been agreed with the TV companies as the Saturday night game to be shown live on Spanish TV. Barça, Athletic and Villarreal have all complained about playing their Copa Del Rey games on Thursday, but it is up to the RFEF to decide on the dates and kick off times for cup games.

Barça have announced that the RFEF confirmed with them today that the Cup game at Villarreal will take place on Thursday kick off at 10pm. So now Barça are trying to come to an agr...

It seems incredible but after the Liga Profesional De Futbol (LFP) announced earlier today that Barça would play Athletic Bilbao on Saturday 26th January, this afternoon the Real Federacion Española De Futbol (RFEF) have announced that the first leg of the Villarreal-Barça Copa Del Rey quarter final will take place on Thursday 24th January, kick off 10pm.

I know that in England they sometimes play twice in three days, but in Spain it is unheard of. It would certainly be a disadvantage for Barça in the game against Athletic. We will have to hope that there is a change in this decision and that it happens quickly. I imagine they will realise their error and re-schedule the cup game for Wednesday.  One has to wonder sometimes at the buffoons who are in charge of...

Barça will face Villarreal in the quarter-final of the Copa Del Rey after Villarreal beat Recreativo 2-0 tonight to go through 2-1 on aggregate. There was a shock as Real Madrid went out after losing 0-1 to Mallorca (1-3 on aggregate). Mallorca's goal was scored by Ibagaza. Athletic Bilbao beat Espanyol on penalties.

The quarter-final pairings are:

Villarreal-Barça

Valencia-Atletico Madrid

Getafe-Mallorca

Racing-Athletic Bilbao

The first legs are due to be played on 23rd January with the return games on the 30th January. Dates and kick off times will be confirmed when the telly man sees fit.

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 ...

Anderson Luis de Souza, better known as Deco, returns to the squad for tomorrow night's second leg Copa Del Rey game with Sevilla (kick off 9pm local time). As usual for Cup games Frank Rijkaard has named a 16-man squad, so there is no place for Saturday's debutante Pedrito. The players trained this evening and will spend the night at a hotel to prepare the game, as they usually do for important Champions League games.

Sevilla are without a number of players, Keita, Kanoute and Kone on international duty, Palop and Javi Navarro are still injured, and Escude is suspended after being sent off in the 2-0 defeat at San Mames on Saturday. Luis Fabiano is suffering from a cold but is expected to play. Sevilla are quite unpredictable this season but they are not nearly as strong without Keita...

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...

Barça travel to Seville for tomorrow night's first leg Copa del Rey match with Sevilla without Ronaldinho and Deco. Ronaldinho is still suffering with tendonitis in his left knee and will not play again until the problem disappears. Meanwhile Deco has a problem with the middle adductor muscle in his left thigh. If I am not mistaken this is the same muscle that Deco injured in October that saw him miss six weeks. There is no mention in any reports I have seen about a recurrence of his old injury, but it is worrying all the same.

Sevilla have problems of their own. They are still without goalkeeper Palop and defender Javi Navarro, and they will also have to do without Keita, Kanoute and Kone who have all left for the African Cup of Nations. However, they seem somewhere nearer to the for...

In today's draw for the Copa del Rey Barça have been paired with Sevilla in the last 16, and the winner of the tie will face Villarreal or Recreativo in the quarter-finals. The first leg of the tie with Sevilla will be played in the Sanchez Pizjuan on January 9th with the return game at Camp Nou the following week. If Barça get through to the quarter final they will play the first leg away from home on January 23rd and the second leg at Camp Nou on January 30th. Dates and kick off times will be confirmed when the TV companies decide which games they want to show. The full draw is as follows:

1.Recreativo-Villarreal

2.Sevilla-Barcelona

3.Zaragoza-Racing

4.Mallorca-Real Madrid

5.Athletic Bilbao-Espanyol

6.Betis-Valencia

7.Atlético Madrid-Valladol...

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...

Frank Rijkaard has named a list of 16 players for tomorrow's second leg cup game with Alcoyano (kick off 6pm local time), and there is no place for Ronaldinho who has tendonitis is his left leg. Also missing are Thierry Henry who has been suffering with migraine and Gianluca Zambrotta who has flu. Leo Messi and Oleguer Presas are both still recovering from their injuries, while Albert Jorquera will undergo surgery on his knee ligaments on Thursday.

The good news is the return of Jose Edmilson after six months on the sidelines, he will be hoping to gain some match fitness as he stands a chance of being Toure Yaya's replacement when Toure leaves for the African Cup. There should also be a debut for 18-year-old Oier Olazabal in goal. Oier isn't likely to have much to do against Alcoyano b...