Match Preview: Sunday 20/08/2006 22:00 (GMT +2): Spanish Super Cup, Second Leg
FC BARCELONA - R.C.D. ESPANYOL

Camp Nou, Barcelona – Capacity: 99.000


FC Barcelona: Valdés, Jorquera, Iniesta, Belletti, Van Bronckhorst, Puyol, Gudjohnsen, Eto'o, Xavi, Motta, Ronaldinho, Márquez, Messi, Zambrotta, Deco, Thuram, Ezquerro, Van Bommel.


R.C.D. Espanyol: Gorka Iraizoz, Kameni, Zabaleta, Sergio Sánchez, Lacruz, Jarque, Marc Torrejón, Moisés, Fredson, Costa, De la Peña, Coro, Rufete, Luis García, Tamudo, Pandiani, Riera, David García.





Match Preview:


The second leg of the Spanish Super Cup will kick-off tonight at 22:00 local time in the Camp Nou. Barca are 1-0 ahead (goal: Giuly) following the away leg at Montjuic last Thursday .


Santiago Ezquerro, Mark van Bommel and Juliano Belletti are back in the Barca squad for todays's Super Cup second leg after missing out on the first game. Goalscorer Giuly (fever), Edmílson (rest after international duty), Sylvinho, Oleguer (both rotation) and Saviola (out of favour) are not included in the 18-man team.


Considering the first leg, the great form Barca and the reputation, the home game against Espanyol should be more or less a formality but the atmosphere between the city rival´s fans, officials and players is more tense after the "Pericos" tried to claim the Super Cup away from the football field but in the courts. The row broke out when Barca included Xavi and Puyol into the winning team at Montjuic, after they pulled out of an international match against Iceland earlier in the week.


However, Barcelona got confirmation by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) that the inclusion of Xavi and captain Puyol was correct. The ridiculous claim from Espanyol director Pedro Tomas had been rejected.
Nevertheless, the claim of the Espanyol board definetely spiced up this Barcelona derby even further. The event prior to the first match, when Barca´s new signing, Italian world champion Gianluca Zambrotta was refused by an Espanyol supporting taxi driver at the airport, hasn’t been forgotten either. But to be honest, all this is usual for the Barcelona derbies.


What seems for a real Barca supporter a more or less formality to lift the Super Cup at the end of the match, is for Barca coach Frank Rijkaard a job not done yet. FC Barcelona coach Rijkaard is urging his side not to lose sight of that. Frank Rijkaard isn't taking anything for granted as he goes into tonights Super Cup and warned his players that "Espanyol are a team well capable of making life difficult for us" and that the team has to be "mentally prepared to finish off the job" and stressed that the Spanish Super Cup "was a very important" trophy for the club to make a good start to the season.

The Barca boss was also clear that the Super Cup wasn't won just yet: "We only won 0-1 and they are a team well capable of making life difficult for us. I'm sure that they are still confident of winning, there's still 90 minutes to go and they'll be preparing as well as they can".


The new signings Thuram, Zambrotta and Gudjohnsen have been named in the squad. While a majority of them are not expected to start, their Camp Nou debuts are most certainly on the cards. It is more likely that the three will start against Bayern Munich in their annual Joan Gamper Trophy match less than 48 hours later.


Prediction:
Xavi and Puyol might have been growing up with the strong rivalry between the two clubs FC barcelona and Espanyol, starting already in the youth competitions, but we can be sure that both will be especially fired up tonight. We can also be sure that all other barca players will assist them in hurting Espanyol as much as they can. Barca will not have forgotten what Espanol tried to do this week and therefore they will be to keen to show, who is the real Champion on the pitch. I am sure Barca will come out in front of their home crowd to put a few goals past them.

Derbies against Espanyol are always something special, despite the huge difference in quality. the clashes are always filled with tension and Espanyol will try to take advantage of this.
However, I can just not see that big favourites Barca can lose this game. It is not hard to predict that we will see some tough challenges and a few cards in this game but at the end Barca will win 3-0.

FC Barcelona vs. Espanyol 3-0


Visca el Barca!