Barcelona Vs Numancia 4-1

Preview: Racing - Barça; Sunday 11amEST, GolTV

February 1, 2009 is one of those rare Sundays when La Liga takes precedence over all on GolTV. There will be three (3) matches shown consecutively, just in case you wish to watch Barcelona, Valencia, and Sevilla all in a row. Because I’m moving on Sunday to my new abode and will miss the match, it means that for the 15th consecutive time that Barcelona and Valencia are playing on GolTV on the same afternoon, I will not meet Cesar from the Valencia Offside at Nevada Smiths. Awesome.

I don’t want to sound despairing, but I’m not approaching this preview very positively. I’m worried about our boys, who just played yesterday (Thursday) in a match that should have been over by the 66th minute (and was at 3-0) and are playing a tough away fixture on short rest. Kevin, of course, covered the previous game

Barca 3, Espanyol 2, a.k.a. “Lie down with dogs….”

I know, I know. But this is probably going to be Pique’s only opportunity this season to be featured in the match report, shown here in ecstasy after he struck what turned out to be the match winner, off a perfect pass from (who else?) Dani Alves.
This was a game that shouldn’t have been what it was and frankly, wasn’t what it was. Yes, it was 3-2, but it really wasn’t that close. Both goals came off mistakes, and once people stopped making them, Espanyol really never looked like scoring on their own.

Copa: Barcelona - Espanyol match comments post

Here we go folks. The starting lineups:
Barcelona: Pinto, Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Sylvinho, Xavi, Busquets, Gudjohnsen, Messi, Bojan, Hleb.Espanyol: Cristian, Finnan, Lacruz, Torrejón, Chica, Rufete, Angel, Sergio Sánchez, Lola, Coro, Jonathan Soriano.
Let’s hear your match thought and links to streaming video in the comments.

Copa Preview: Barca - Espanyol; Thursday 3:30pmEST GolTV

It’s the second leg of the Copa del Rey match with local rivals Espanyol and we’re looking at a 0-0 aggregate scoreline. It means that in order to progress, FCB must win the match outright. No silly combo of draws or losses will help us out — just your standard victory. From my perspective, nothing less is acceptable against the periquitos because to have them, a team sitting in 19th position in the league and a bitter local rival, beat the “best team on earth” would be a legitimate disaster in this season of good fortune