Espanyol v Barca Copa del Rey Q/F 1st leg SS1 9PM

redout

Tonights encounter is live on Sky Sports at 9pm. It should be a decent match as Guardiola has promised to name a strong side. Here is the provisional 23 man squad which will be whittled down to 16 at 7pm.

Valdés, Jorquera, Pinto, Alves, Márquez, Puyol, Martín Cáceres, Abidal, Sylvinho, Piqué, Busquets, Xavi, Touré, Gudjohnsen, Keita, Víctor Sánchez; Hleb, Messi, Bojan, Eto'o, Iniesta, Henry, Pedro.


EDIT: Eto'o, Valdés, Piqué, Henry, Touré Yaya, Dani Alves, Pedro are the ones whittled out from the provisional 23.


Rumour earlier was that Eto'o will not play with the club saying it had nothing to do with his bust up on the training ground with coach Guardiola which saw him sent to the showers early.


Espanyol are a team in crisis at present languishing in 18th position 5 point from safety and the Copa looking like their best chance for success this season. They fired coach Mane on sunday after the 4 - 0 defeat to Malaga and have replaced him with former player and Argentina international Mauricio Pochettino who at 36 I think takes over the mantle of youngest manager in la liga after Unai Emery, Valencia (37), Pep Guardiola, Barcelona (38).



EDIT:

Barca lineup:
Pinto, Puyol, Marquez, Caceres, Sylvinho, Busquets, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Hleb, Bojan, Iniesta.


Espanyol lineup:
Kameni; Sergio Sánchez, Jarque, Pareja, Beranger; Moisés Hurtado, Román; Valdo, Luis García, Nené, Callejón

eZe^

We have to beat these dirty Perico's. We were lucky to get all three points away in the first half of the season so this could be tricky.

gimmick

I reckon a comfortable 2 nil win for Barca tonight. Espanyol are a complete mess, and Barca are very confident, and are very much in the habit of winning. Thee previous game Vs Espanyol is no indicator, as Barca were only beginning to see form back then.

Where did you see that redout re Eto'o? Bad news if true. Maybe Man City can fail to sign him as well

redout

If anyone is interested the other quarter-final between 4th place Valencia v Sevilla 3rd place is on at 8pm and should be a cracker with two of la liga top sides squaring off.

Link here http://www.justin.tv/dimonifutbol4

Just checked the link and its already live but no game until 8pm.


Valencia lineup:
Guaita; Miguel, Albiol, Maduro, Moretti; Joaquín, Albelda, Baraja, Vicente, Silva, Villa


Sevilla lineup:
Palop; Mosquera, Escudé, Squillaci, F. Navarro; Maresca, Adriano, Romaric, J. Navas; Renato, Luis Fabiano

redout

gimmick wrote: »

Where did you see that redout re Eto'o? Bad news if true. Maybe Man City can fail to sign him as well

Here is an english link http://www.goal.com/en/news/1706/barcelona/2009/01/21/1070448/tension-between-guardiola-and-etoo-at-barcelona-training

It is also on Marca and Sport.es

Zebra3

gimmick wrote: »

I reckon a comfortable 2 nil win for Barca tonight. Espanyol are a complete mess, and Barca are very confident, and are very much in the habit of winning. Thee previous game Vs Espanyol is no indicator, as Barca were only beginning to see form back then.

Where did you see that redout re Eto'o? Bad news if true. Maybe Man City can fail to sign him as well

The likes of Eto'o don't normally play in games like this. Still expect enough quality on show though.

redout

Goal..............

David Villa round of applause. He was pushed well wide by the keeper but still managed to squeeze it in.

Valencia lead 1 - 0



Villa is off after 18mins to be replaced by Morientes. He is sitting on the bench with some heavy strapping around his left leg. Hope its not serious as that would be a major blow for Valencia.

Zebra3

Yeh, a big blow to them cos they need to sell him. In debt to the tune of half a billion €? :eek:

cruiserweight

Sevilla equalise

Diabhal Beag

If we are on the subject of Espanyol can somebody tell me if Raul Tamudo still plays for them and if so what kind of form is he on this season

Adamcp898

Little Shyte wrote: »

If we are on the subject of Espanyol can somebody tell me if Raul Tamudo still plays for them and if so what kind of form is he on this season

Yeah he does, injured at the minute though

cruiserweight

Pretty poor first half

Valencia Sevilla game seems more exciting, Valencia 3-2 up at the moment

redout

Full-time:
Valencia 3 - 2 Sevilla

Valencia come from 2 - 1 down to score twice in the last six minutes and snatch victory. Top quality stuff. The Barca game has been a bit of a bore thus far. Marquez injury could be a blow.

cruiserweight

Messi and Xavi both on now. Lets see if this will lift the game

redout

Full-time:
Espanyol 0 - 0 Barca



Thought that was a pretty poor game in fairness. I can see Guardiola playing some bigger players from the start for the return leg next wednesday. Barca never looked dangerous all night.

gimmick

Nope. Poor game all told. Finished 0-0

eZe^

Yawwwwwwwwwwnnnnnn.

Paparazzo

In fairness, I don't think the Barca fans will be ripping up their season tickets cos they team is boring. Can't have a 5-0 every week