A desperate Frank Rijkaard storms El Madrigal in search of first victory against Villarreal.


Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the Dutchman admits the yellow submarines were the better side before, but things will definitely change this time around. Although Barca have lost in two successive encounters in Villarreal's home ground, the Catalan giants defeated the hosts right in their home ground in the 2005/06 season. Frank Rijkaard wants to lead Barca to repeat this feat, as that time, the man on the bench was Hen Ten Cate after Rijkaard was sidelined himself due to an illness on that day. Now the Barca helmsman wants to prove all his critics wrong that he can secure victory for Barca when he's on the bench at the El Madrigal. Rijkaard demonstrates clear knowledge of the Villarreal side:

They were better in the last league game. They came out very strongly and scored early on. We were unable to turn things around and Villarreal justifiably won. They are a team that can wait for to play in their half before launching counter-attacks or can come out and attack you from the first minute. We know what to expect and we will have to go out and start strongly ourselves.

Read the full interview below:


FC Barcelona's Rijkaard: Villarreal Were Better In The Last Game.

Abidal has been ruled out due to injury as Edmilson returns.


The brilliant French defender took a blow to his left foot and will be out of the Villarreal game, while Edmilson has been certified fully fit to play against the yellow submarines who have had a very good record against Barca, having defeated the Blaugrana in the last two matches both teams have played at the El Madrigal. FC barcelona want to put an end to this trend, and this is the best time to do it as the semi-final ticket of the Cop del Rey is at stake. The men to do it for Barca include:


Valdés, Pinto, Milito, Márquez, Puyol, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Zambrotta, Henry, Edmilson, Giovani, Messi, Deco, Thuram, Oleguer, Bojan, Sylvinho.


Ronaldinho is back in training, but did not train with the rest of the squad as he continued with specific therapy and training to address his particular situation. Three young talents, Pedrito, Víctor Sánchez and Busquets were also present in training, all three coming from the junior team, Barca B.


The match against Villarreal takes place at El Madrigal on January 24th. Kick-off time is 22:00 hours local time.

In order to avoid over-crowding the schedule of the Catalan giants, the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) have rescheduled Barca's next La Liga game.



This became necessary after the Blaugrana were earlier required to play both Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao within a space of 46 hours, both matches being away matches and implying Barca will not have any chance to regroup or to train at Camp Nou before playing the second match. The former schedule had the Copa del Rey match at El Madrigal between Villarreal and FC Barcelona scheduled for Thursday, January 24th at 22:00 hours local time while the Athletic Bilbao clash in San Mames was fixed for Saturday evening at 22:00 hours local time but has now been postponed to Sunday, January 27th at 19:00 hours local time.


FC Barcelona will return from the Villarreal clash on Friday, then leave for the La Liga clash with Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

Barca to end Camp Nou holidays on a grand note.




Match Preview: Sunday 20/01/2008 21:00 hours (GMT +1), La Liga, Match Day 20

FC BARCELONA ( 2nd/40pts ) - RACING SANTANDER ( 6th/32pts )
Stadium: Camp Nou, Barcelona

Capacity : 98,772
Referee:


Full Squad:


FC Barcelona (4-3-3):

Valdés, Pinto, Zambrotta, Oleguer, Puyol, Milito, Thuram, Márquez, Sylvinho, Abidal, Deco, Xavi, Iniesta, Gudjohnsen, Giovani, Bojan, Henry and Messi.
Manager: Frank Rijkaard


Racing Santander(4-4-2): Being Awaited

Manager: Marcelino Garcia Toral


Match Preview:


The arrival of Jose Manuel Pinto as well as the return of Lionel Messi all provide vital boosts to the the Barca squad who were rueing the absence of star striker Samuel Eto'o. Oleguer Presas is also back and has been named in the squad. The Catalan giants have a self-inflicted mandate to win all remaining matches and hope that Real Madrid will draw or lose at least three of their matches. This will close the gap between the two, as the Blaugrana aim to recapture their Liga title again this season. Ronaldinho is still out and so is Edmilson. Barca have been on a roll since this year began, winning all matches played except the draw with Sevilla; a draw that was good enough to earn the Blaugrana a ticket to the quarter final stage of the King's Cup. Now, the inspired super stars, who have been roosting at home in Camp Nou over the past one week despite filing out for it's third match within the period, are set to end a great week with a win over visiting Santander.


Racing Santander have been quite impressive after being forced to become more serious with a thrashing by Sevilla in December. They pride themselves in a recent revival, including a victory over Real Mallorca. However, the recent declaration by helmsman, Marcelino that this very game against FC Barcelona is not as important as the mid-week Copa del Rey clash against Athletic Bilbao, calls into question the level of confidence with which Santander are entering this match with. Even though placed in the sixth position in the League, which by their standards is very impressive, the King's cup quarter finalists. Mohammed Smolarek is missing, but frontman Pedro Munitis may provide coach Marcelino some more hope as a likely loss to Barca looms him in the face.


My Prediction:


Despite Marcelino's attempts to under-play Santander's seriousness to encounter, the match will be tougher than FC Barcelona anticipate, especially as the Santander team don't want to enter their cherished Copa del Rey encounter with a negative psychology which a loss brings. However, the Catalan giants are expected to rise to the occassion and break the opponents' resistance within the 90 minute period. I forsee:




FC Barcelona - Racing Santander 2 - 0

Creative Iniesta is not concerned about Real Madrid ouster from the Copa del Rey.


Rather, the Spanish star feels more concerned about Madrid's seven point gap at the top of the La Liga, and wants to do everything within his powers to reverse the trend before the season ends. Iniesta said:

We’re just happy that we’ve got through. If Mallorca knocked out Madrid, that means they deserved to get through as well. We don’t care what they do in the Cup, as we need them to trip up in the League. Getting knocked out is always painful and hard to accept. We have to win our games and not worry so much about Madrid.

Iniesta also spoke about the forthcoming tie with Villarreal in the Copa quarter -final stage. Read more:


Andres Iniesta: We Don't Care About Real Madrid