Village Idiot

Depor has been given a special permission to sign a player outside the window, and apparently they are going after Giovanni Dos Santos from Tottingham. The extension La Liga has given to them will expire at the end of the month.

As said in another thread I played PES against Raúl Tamudo (Espanyol's centreforward and all-time topscorer), since we had at the time a mutual friend. He tore me a new one (always been more of a FM guy). Also, in one night, at the same party, I met Andrés Iniesta, Rafa Nadal and Pau Gasol. None of them were famous yet (well, Gasol a little). I used to live in Cesc Fábregas' hometown, and my brother knows his family and has spoken with him on occasion (not the nicest person in the world, he tells me). Guardiola lives in my parents' town, when I go there, I usually bump into him. My parents buy their meat at the same store as him.

He is either a good decent professional or incredibly thick for throwing away that deal. Leaning towards the later. Also I don't think that a team can sign a released player after the window's shut, that would be ripe for abuse.

Just confirmed, 1-2 weeks with a sprained ankle. Here's hoping Henry finds some form.

They lad Angel Rangel who they signed Terrassa looks a good un. What level are Terrassa & where Catalonia are they based? Terrassa are Spanish Segunda B (third flight), the town of Terrassa is 30 km north of Barcelona, Xavi's birthplace sporting-wise, though, they are famous for field-hockey. An absurd amount of players of the Spanish field hockey team (several times world/olympic medalist) comes from Terrassa.

All decent players from the Spanish third flight, it's very easy to get those on a free, so I guess it was great business for Swansea. Can't believe Jordi Gómez starts week in week out in a Premier League side though.

I was thinking about this (well, kind of) when I was in Barcelona in the summer; how many in Barcelona supports Espanyol? They have a pretty decent following actually, but it's massively dwarfed by FC Barcelona. On anecdotal evidence, I'd say one in 5-6 football fans in Barcelona is an Espanyol fan. But they are pretty much a non-entity outside the Barcelona metropolitan area. @thespence: Dani Jarque was born in Barcelona, you won't find many Espanyol youth players born outside the city or the immediate towns. He was also born from Spanish immigrants, which is were Espanyol finds a lot of their fans. EDIT: I got players mixed up, but Raúl Tamudo has actually the same story, lives in Santa Coloma (adjacent town to Barcelona), and born to Spanish immigrants. Also super-nice fella, I met him and played PES with him a few times.

Apart from our scouting network, we benefit from a huge catchment area. Every kid in Catalonia (me too, but I was useless) dreams of playing for Barça. Madrid, for example, has Atlético in the same area (and even if Real is the bigger club overall, it's much more split inside Madrid city proper).

We didn't buy Messi or anything, his father has relatives in Catalonia and moved there with his son given the Argentinian crisis. He trialed for Barça and we offered him a spot. He was 13...

Yes, he went down in the first game of the season, but he should be on his way back. We kinda can use him, since he looked way more up for it than Henry.

Amazing goal by Oscar Serrano 1-4

Messi again, out of nowhere. 0-4 He gets subbed after the goal, and the Racing crowd claps him as he heads for the tunnel...

Guess Guardiola's playing it safe, hopefully it's just a knock. Xisco warming up for Racing EDIT: Xisco in.

Messi puts the ball on the net but is (correctly) ruled offside.

Zlatan

Beautiful one.

Barça 0-1 up, Ibrahimovic Set piece goal, that's what I love about getting Zlatan, his size and height gives us an edge we lacked with Eto'o against tall teams like Racing.

Henry really showing his age lately, just tried to lead a swift counterattack and was jaded when he got in the final third.

Xisco's on the bench for Racing.

@Towelie On paper, yes, they gave us big problems last season though (drew 1-1 at home and won 1-2 away). They are a very good physical team, one of the last of that kind that remain in La Liga.

Sevilla up 2-0 against Mallorca (Squillaci and Perotti) Racing Santander - Barça about to start. Iniesta still on the bench, otherwise a full strength starting XI from Guardiola.

Pretty pleased that Barça didn't weasel out and sent the president, DoF and Technical Secretary, as high profile a representation as we can send. The man deserved no less.

Haven't been able to find an English link for this but... http://www.elmundo.es/elmundodeporte/2009/09/21/futbol/1253563264.html International referee Massimo Busacca gets suspended for doing what all referees dream of doing.

Milan doesn't seem to have had a particularly brilliant start of the season... does Ronaldinho show any hint that he might recapture his old form? It was such a pity to let his talent go to waste.

After playing 10 minutes (and getting into the scoresheet), Ruud Van Nistelrooy has managed to injury himself for a further 6 weeks.