Well, Giovanni van Bronckhorst was released on a free today, and will rejoin Feyenoord.

Question is... who will Barca's new left-back be? It's not as if Gio was the reserve full-back, so someone would need to come in an replace him.

Silvinho is a very good player, but Barca regard him as a backup, and at his age he is not going to suddenly take the Nou Camp by storm.

Barca are chasing Christian Chivu and Eric Abidal (allegedly), with the latter threatening to go on strike in order to get his desired move.

Chivu is left-footed, and has played left-back before (he started there), but is really a centre-back and has done his best work for Ajax and Roma in that position. He's a technically gifted player, great at set pieces and with terrific touch and passing.

Abidal is a left-footed left-back, who started out at centre-back. He is a tough, reliable defender, who is very quick and powerful, but someone who offers very little going forward (in my opinion). There's no doubt he would be a good signing for any team, but Barca's system has so often relied on a zippy, technical lfullback overlapping down the left and providing width and creating space for Ronaldinho. Van Bronckhorst had undoubtedly one of the best left-foots (feet?) in Europe, and produced many great crosses and passes. Abidal would not provide any of this.

The other option of course is for Gianluca Zambrotta to play at left-back. He has played there so well for so many years, for both club and country, despite having started out as a right-winger, and he has always done well. For a right-footed player, his left-foot is probably better than that of many left-footed players, and there's no doubt he would do an excellent job there. But then Barca would need to be searching for a right-back... and with Belletti gone and Thuram looking slower and slower, that's a problem they don't need at the moment.

After already emulating Diego Maradona with his brilliant goal against Getafe, the littler little man has gone a step further by emulating the the infamous Hand of God against Zaragoza in the most recent round of play in La Liga. Some might even say that without it, Real Madrid might have won the title today, and if they lose it next week, then Messi's "goal" will be even more crucial and controversial. Video below:

Have to say that Messi, despite his brilliance must go down as a quite brazen, dirty little cheat after this, and questions must also be definitely asked of the referee, who had a good enough view of the incident (in my opinion).

Barcelona and Manchester United. They are both struggling. Oh yes they are.

On a weekend of upsets, Barcelona lost 1-0 away at Zaragoza, and United went down 2-1 at Portsmouth. Both sides are choking badly, and while United have a once-again consistent Chelsea grinding out wins and catching up with them, Barcelona are fortunate to have equally bad chokers Sevilla as their title challengers. Time and time again Sevilla have failed to capitalise on Barca's slip-ups, and on Saturday they could only manage a goalless draw against Racing Santander in response to Barca's defeat, which came courtesy of a typically opportunistic Diego Milito strike .

It all certainly has provided a very interesting twist to the finishes of Europe's two major leagues. A while ago, United looked confident and in-control, especially when Chelsea were struggling, but the tables look like they might be turned now. Henrik Larsson is being sorely missed. He might not have set the world on fire in his short spell at Old Trafford, but he was an experienced, top-class player that they had in an attack short of depth; his departure has left the attack short of ideas and confidence, and just 3 points ahead of Chelsea.

Rooney hasn't scored many this year, neither has Saha, and Solskjaer has been patchy when fit. Cristiano Ronaldo has been their main threat, and it looks like a situation where they will now have to prioritise between the Champions League and the Premiership, although that problem might not last much longer if they fail to overturn their 2-1 first leg away defeat against AS Roma. Ferdinand will have to regain his confidence after scoring a wildly entertaining own goal at the weekend, and Van der Sar has looked a bit shaky – he failed to cleanly either hold or punch away shots against Roma and Pompey , both of which resulted in similar rebound goals.

Barca however have no real excuses. Eto'o and Messi are both fit and the latter has been wonderful since his return from injury, they have a team that is far stronger than last season's and really should be doing better. But they have been generally shaky this term, and slipping up a lot. They are out of the Champions' League, and should be focussing 100% on domestic duties, but somehow seem to have confused their objectives even more by handing the initiative to everyone else. Barca are on 56 points, Sevilla are on 55, Real Madrid are on 54, and Zaragoza and Valencia are both on 50 .

Not many people have mentioned much about Zaragoza this season, but they have been steadily climbing up the the league, and whilst their 1-0 win over Barca might be considered an upset by most, there are some who will look at the league table and say that every team in the top 7 is very, very tricky. Barca have already lost to Real, Valencia, Sevilla and Zaragoza this year, and if you can't beat your opponents at the top, then you don't deserve to win. Something just seems to be awry at the Nou Camp, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Rijkaard gone in the summer.

Anyway, off to sleep for me. Tomorrow's Champions League action could make me a very, very happy man if both Man United and Chelsea go out of the competition :)