Apologies Spanish footy fans. I've neglected my site for some time now; I've been learning matador tricks and improving my Paella sampling skills, but as from today 'It's a Funny Old Spain' is back.

After the Arse knocked Villarreal out of the Champions, thanks to goals from Walcott, Adebayor and Van Persie, there's only one Spanish team left, Barca.

The semis are between Chelsea and Barca, and Arse and Manchester. The first leg will take place on the 28th and 29th of April and the second on the 5th and 6th of May, the final is on 27th of May.

The question is whether Barca can get past Hiddink's reformed team. After tuesday's 4 v 4 draw with Liverpool, Pep Guardiola has to be thinking that with the likes of Messi, Eto and Henry then he can clearly open up Chelsea's defense again, but will they be able to stop Drogba and Lampard tearing them to pieces?

With regards to La Liga, Barca have pretty much won it, but we all knew that in October, so the fight is on for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th places. My money's on Sevilla and Valencia for 3rd and 4th, Villarreal for 5th and I have a sneaky feeling that Malaga might just creep up to 6th. 

At the other end of the table it's just as close as the Premiership, there are only 9 points between Espanyol, 20th, and Osasuna, 11th, so the battle for staying in the Premier division looks as though it's gonna go to the wire.

There are still 8 jornadas left, and some tasty games to come including Sevilla against Valencia, Barca, Real Madrid and Villarreal, so its going to be a classy finish. Who's your money on?

Well it's about time to find out. Tomorrow night, Atletico Madrid, continue their sprawl of tough games against Barcelona at Camp Nou in the 6th Jornada in La Liga. Atletico are seventh in the league and only one point behind Barca, who are fifth, so could jump over them with a victory tomorrow night.

But how possible is that going to be? Will it be a question of Messi or Kun smashing in the goals? Pep Guardiola, unbiased of course, thinks that although Kun is a star player Messi is a better one 'I'm still saying that Aguero is very good, but for me Messi is better.' Of course he's gonna say that, and maybe he's right, but in a couple of years time it will probably be a different story.

The point is though that tomorrow is the big show down.Pep is obviously aware of this and has admitted to telling Messi 'Not to try and win the game himself.' When asked if he knew what Messi thought of Kun he said 'I don't know if he has a personal reason to win the game, I only hope that we win because it would put us high dynamically.'

If you changed Messi for Kun, just for tomorrows match, then what would happen? Would Kun fit in with Eto and Inesta? Would Messi gel with Luis Garcia and Pongolle? Is there any point comparing the quality that the two have alongside them? Messi has far greater team mates, so does that mean that Kun is better after all?Yeah I know, too many questions, let's leave it to the professionals.

My prediction is 2 v 1 to Barca with Messi and Kun both scoring own goals. 

Valencia remain top of La Liga after the 5th Jornada after beating Deportivo 4 v 2 in a quality game.

Deportivo took the lead after a silly defensive own goal by Moretti (11), but it wasn't long before Mata equalised after 34 minutes after a cross from Joaquin.

In the second half Villa made it two on 49 minutes thanks to a pass from Mata, and then Joaquin made it three after a lovely move from both Mata and Villa yet again. The fourth came on 81 mnutes; an easy tap in for Villa after Mata knocked it across the area.

Deportivo managed a consolation goal on 84 mins by Lafita, but only because the Valencia defense stopped because they thought it was offside, but it wasn't.

The awesome threesome Villa, Mata and Joaquin took control of the game up front and made some real difficulties for the shaky Deportivo defense.

That leaves Villa with the Pichichi -the honor of top goal scorer in La Liga. 

Villa's hopes of winning the league with Valencia are looking more and more likely every week; if they carry on crushing their opponents then Barca and Real Madrid will need to step it up a level if they're going to stop them. Bring it on, I love a bit of a challenge. What do you think? Is it time for a new Liga champion?

Villarreal are currently top and surely they're going to be top after this weekend's 5th Jornada where they face Sporting away on Saturday night. If you were the manager of Villarreal what would you be telling your team? Go one boys, it's Friday night, go and have a few beers and tapas, there's no need to worry about tomorrow's game.

Well, manager Manuel Pellegrini isn't letting his guard down and has said that the holes in Sporting's defense 'doesn't guarantee anything'. 'They are playing at home and we need to play to our maximum if we're going to get a result,' he added also saying that 'Every game is history.' I agree with you there Pellegrini, but this history book's already been written hasn't it?

 (maybe it has yes)

Villarreal may be concentrating on their game next week against Celtic in the Champions league, but if they are to remain top they need a result this Saturday night. I don't think it will be the same rugby score as against Barca and Madrid, maybe more, whatever happens there's a definite three points in the bag for Pellegrini and his boys.

Sevilla are fourth in the table after beating Espanyol 2 v 0 at home last night thanks to goals from Maresca (57) and Chevanton (86), but there were still moans from the crowd after a poor first half show. When Maresca scored he ran straight up to his manager / boss / lover, and dedicated the goal to him, how cute (afterwards apparently he had to wash the tears away)

Today Diego Capel said that the 'Mister' deserved the win 'We knew the importance of this game, especially after the derby, the person who most deserves the victory is the mister (governor) and we want to dedicate it to him, we know he's a strong man but we hope this helps him forget everything,' he added with a tear in his eye.

It was an important victory for Sevilla yesterday, probably the toughest so far and has boosted confidence among the team. Maybe if Jimenez had started with the same team as yesterday he would have got a better result against Betis. Maybe or maybe not; Betis put up a good fight yesterday against Barca to pull it back from 2 v 0 to 2 v 2 but they let it slip and lost 3 v 2 (despite a definite penalty that Sergio Garcia should have had). 

Unfortunately Sevilla's Columbian defender, Mosquera, sprained his ankle yesterday and will be out for about three weeks.Sevilla's next game is away to Atletico who won again yesterday 2 v 1 against Getafe in a Madrid derby.

After yesterday's game Jimenez should have won some faith back from his supporters, but how long will he keep it for? The Sevillianos are hard to please at times, trust me my girlfriend is one of them, only joking darling.

The news that new rich boys Manchester City are trying to buy Atletico's Sergio Aguero, Kun, has got the press talking over in Spain.

It's panic time for Atletico, they have started the season amazingly and don't need any hassle from the press, or hounding from City, about their whizz kid Argentinean striker.

Rumor has it that 60 million Euros have been offered for Kun, who has scored eight goals in the last four games, and is playing tonight in a Madrid derby against Getafe where representatives from City will be watching to see if he's really worth the price tag. 

About three days ago I wrote an article on Kun saying that he would be the new wonder boy and it's only been a week after the end of the transfer market and already he's getting hounded. Can't they wait a couple of months before we get started again?

Are Atletico a big enough club for the Argentinean wonder boy? Will he be gone in January? After Atletico take on Liverpool next month in the Champions League clash, all eyes will be on him. 

I don't know if Atletico have the capacity or capital to say no to 60 million Euros, but one things for sure City are on the prowl already and with Kun alongside Robinho and Jo there's gonna be trouble in the Prem.

After Jimenez's 'different' starting line up against Betis last Sunday he has been heavily criticized but he doesn't give two hoots 'I'd would play exactly the same team if we played Betis again' he said today. 'I've got it quite clear, I know my squad, I know what I'm doing and I don't care what other people's opinions are.'

 He's made it quite clear that he's in control (especially about his body odour, don't worry i've put deodrant on today amigo) but he also takes the blame for the result against Betis, which is fair enough. Against Espanyol tomorrow he will be without Adriano and Konko but will be trying Squillaci and Crespo.Maresca, the Italian midfielder, has defended the criticisms against Jimenez and said 'It's normal that they criticize us, we're Sevilla and everyone always wants more.' Then he added 'Jimenez was convinced of the ability of the team and that they could go out and get a good result against Betis.' He's asked the fans to ease off a bit if things don't get going against Espanyol in the first ten minutes and to hold back on the whistles, but will they listen? Tintin Marquez, manager for Espanyol, seems vibrant about the clash tomorrow. He's said that it will be a good opportunity for him to use other players in the squad as he will be resting some key players, including Raul Tamudo, who's played most of the games so far. 'We've got 27 players in the squad and it’s a good moment to give some of them a rest' he said. What are they on a holiday camp? Haven't they just had two months off? He does have a point though as his next three clashes are against Barca, Real Madrid and Villarreal (didn't I write an article complaining about this yesterday?)The two teams have started well so it will be a tough clash, I think after Sevilla's disappointed result on Sunday they will be raring to go and the fact that Tintin is resting Tamudo may make a difference. Prediction 2 v 1 to Sevilla.

Don't worry I'm not talking about my prediction for the final positions of La Liga this year (although it would be nice), I'm talking about the order of oppositions that teams have to face.

This would never happen in the Prem, could you imagine it? Every team has to play, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal in a row, no way jose! What do you think? Isn't it about time they changed this system, or if it is a fluke this year then maybe they should havethought about it? The Sesame gang say aren't happy with it.

Atletico smashed Recreativo 4 v 0 thanks to goals from Kun (7), Maniche (52) and two from Sinama (77,88) to put them back on track in La Liga.

Sergio Aguero, Kun, has now scored four goals in eight days, one against Valladolid, two against PSV and one yesterday to show that he's one of La Liga's most dangerous strikers. He also set up the second goal for Maniche and caused serious problems for Recre's defense. Kun left to a standing ovation as he was substituted in the 60th minute.

But if he continues like this then surely he's gonna get swamped with offers from outside La Liga; no doubt the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, and Tottenham will be keeping an eye on him for when the transfer market opens again in January. Rumors has it that Maradona has already said he'll try and get him over to Inter next season, and rumor also has it that Kun likes to suck his thumb when he goes to bed with a nice hot cup of Chocolate; I don't know why anyone would think that though...

But was it really an impressive thrashing that the score reflects? Javier Aguirre, manager of Atletico, seems to think not; 'The victory wasn't as easy as it seemed, but we've got great strike force who are going to cause problems, but we can't commit errors in defense,' he said even though Atletico have kept three clean sheets in four games against Schalke, Malaga, and Recreativo. But overall the Mexican, Aguirre, was content with his team's performance; I should think so mate, 4 v 0 ain't a bad result now is it?

Atletico appear to have everything in order, their strike force has been phenomenal so far and new signings of Heitinga (Dutch) and Ujfalusi (Chec) now playing alongside Perea and Antonio Lopez make a solid defense. The question is will they be able to keep up these peformances when they play the tougher teams in La Liga and Champions? Next week they're at home to Getafe, who managed a draw with current leaders Espanyol 1 v 1 yesterday, but then they have the real test; Sevilla, Barca and Madrid in a row. Let's see how Kun and his boys shape up against those bad boys before we can consider a new challenger for the title, be nice though wouldn't it?