Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club, where it's always a party in here before the weekend! Of course, Crackovia is one of the most craziest football sketch shows from Catalonia and this week was all about Barcelona's quest to slow down Madrid using some insane dressing room rituals.

Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club, the comedy club which welcomes every single one of you Futbolitinos! Of course, for the newbies, Crackovia is the best football sketch show from Catalonia (you'd be hard pressed to find a better one).

Real Madrid suffered another home defeat to Barcelona but this time in the first-leg of the Copa del Rey. The cup loss has not been as painful as the La Liga loss to the bitter rivals from Catalonia. In both defeats the hosts took the lead early on only for the Catalans to strike back to achieve precious and morale boosting victories.

Bienvenida a Friday Crackovia Club! This is where the best football sketch show in Catalonia gets its own personal space simply because you need to be reminded of how brilliant it is. This week, Cristiano Ronaldo gets all emotional at a press conference, where he later breaks into a song (channeling Sade, one of his favourite singers, perhaps?

Bienvenidaaaaa! We know it's Monday and you're probably still nursing that hangover from last Saturday but Gracias a Dios for football because Villarreal held Valencia to a 2-2 draw last night and we know the town folks are celebrating!

Robin van Persie is the son of a sculptor and a painter and his inherited creative genius shines through on the football pitch. Beginning his career at Excelsior Rotterdam, he moved on to Feyenoord and earned caps for the Dutch u19 and u21 teams.

Robin always dreamed of playing for his hometown club and then moving on to Arsenal or a small club in Catalonia to further his career.

By Chris Wright

This may be about to become the shortest-lived feature in Pies history, but Christmas is crowning over the horizion (six weeks folks) and naturally our thoughts have started turning toward our nearest and dearest.

Indeed, what better way to show Granny Ethel that you love her than by watching her eyes light up on Christmas morning as she unwraps a bespoke gift sent with love from you to her maybe a small ceramic figurine of Sergio Ramos curling one off with his shorts around his ankles perhaps?

Behold this 'caganer' ceramic figurine of Madrid's Sergio Ramos, a traditional Catalan Christmas tradition which dates back to the 18th century symbolising "fertilisation, hope and prosperity" for the coming year! / via AFP Photos

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The Friday Crackovia Club!

Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club, a weekly cap on Catalonia's Best Comedy Football Show. If you haven't heard of these guys yet, be very ashamed because they're in a class of their own! This week, the Madrid players are a little 'loony' from playing their early noon fixture against Osusuna with Sergio Ramos still munching on his oily (but delicious!

THE FRIDAY CRACKOVIA CLUB

It's the first weekend of November, and Friday has come rollin'! Time for you to get a dose of the best sketch comedy show in Barcelona...Crackovia! Pau Escribano and his team of producers and actors have done it again this week, with Pep Guardiola (seen above) getting annoyed at the trio of Puyol, Pique and Fabregas (the 'moc moc' clan) for their Twitter addiction in the dressing room.

Welcome to the Friday Crackovia Club, where we profile the best football sketch comedy show from Catalonia (and the whole of Spain, for that matter!) As it's Halloween weekend and you're ALL dressing up as Carlos Tevez in a bullfighting matador outfit tomorrow, this won't take much of your time!

So we lost. 6-1. To City. In a week that brought us the catastrophic news of Westlife splitting up, it had me wondering what about now? Could this really be City's season in the sun?

It's always a mini-trauma to lose heavily to a bitter rival, and we all have our own personal coping mechanisms.

Every Wednesday, we round up the offbeat stories making their rounds in the football world. Today, read about Puyol's girlfriend,

Don't worry folks, you didn't miss out on Malena Costa and Puyol's wedding of the century (collective eye-rolls, we see!) she's wearing a wedding dress in that fofo car to celebrate her 'Queen of Cava 2011' title in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, Barcelona.

Even after Aleandre Pato'o "saw a gap and ran at it" (great quote sometimes football's just a simple game), the Champions League opening night provided no further letdown, only building with steam across the continent. Late drama was seemingly a common thread, both in Catalonia and Germany.

Aww, it's that time of the year again for the "Human Tower" (or Castell) in Catalonia where 100-200 people climb over one another to form a tower during the Sant Feliz fiesta. / via Reuters

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*We might be marveling at the brilliance of Barcelona every time the blaugrana grace the field, and shake our heads at the bottomless bank account of Real Madrid, but the Spanish league is as absurdly top-heavy and devalued as the Scottish league.
The two giants won 5-0 and 6-0 respectively on the opening day of the Spanish season, leaving Villareal president Fernando Roig to exclaim in anguish, "It's a third-world league in which two clubs are sapping the TV money.

Football transfer rumours: Liverpool's Raul Meireles to Chelsea?

Today's tell-all is down but not out So then Britain, how are you feeling the morning after the day before? Strange, isn't it, waking up to the usual fume-filled skies, the sound of commuters tutting at delayed trains and the sight of Foot Locker branches smoldering into rubble, but now living in a world where Cesc Fábregas actually plays for Barcelona .

Barcelona maestro Xavi has apologized to Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger in the wake of his outspoken comments concerning the future of Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas. However, the midfielder also reaffirmed his belief that his fellow Spanish compatriot is desperate to seal a move back to the Catalonia and is suffering much in his bid to [.

Can Thiago Alcantara force way into Barca reckoning after committing long-term future? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Thiago Alcantara has signed a two-year contract extension at Barcelona subsequently warding off any potential suitors. After impressing in Spain's European Under-21 Championship triumph, speculation had arose that interest from Italy and England had surfaced.

Manchester United enter the race to sign Alexis Sanchez - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

It seemed a foregone conclusion this time last week that Alexis Sanchez would be ending his fairytale stay at Udinese to seek pastures new in Catalonia with European Champions Barcelona. However, reports emanating from the British tabloids today claim that Manchester United have entered the fray to sign the multi-talented Chilean international

Although there were indications a deal was in place with Barcelona, Bianconeri President Franco Soldati poured cold water on such talk:

"With regards to the statements attributed to be about a supposed transfer of Sanchez to FC Barcelona, I wish to point out these are without foundation.

MOTO GP action today from Spain in all categories with the Catalonia GP. Mix day & results for Spanish riders but with all the excitement that this Sport habitually gives fans & admires. Lorenzo & Stoner celebrate podium The MotoGP category was won by Australian Casey Stoner, with current Spanish World Champ JORGE LORENZO coming in second with his team-mate Spies an admirable third place.

We're pretty sure the whole of Catalonia has just erupted into a flurry of Piquera frenzy after the Colombian singer did a special performance (as part of her Spain tour) at the Estadio Olímpico de Montjuic last night. And yes, she actually waited for the arrival of the Barca players before officially starting the concert.

SPANISH SPORT & FOOTBALL has an important date tomorrow in London. The emotional levels are rising & will be souring tomorrow in Spain, especially in the autonomous region of Catalonia & the city of Barcelona, along with fellow Football fans in the city of Manchester & in England. Courtesy from "Don Balon" Spanish Sport online Football media MANCHESTER UNITED plays FC BARCELONA in the 2011

Blasphemous though it may seem, for all the dazzling array of skills which they bestow upon me as a mere spectator, I do not worship at the altar of Barcelona. I worship at the altar of football. Despite the Catalan club's increasingly jubilant marketing campaign, there is a distinction between the two.

FC Barcelona youngster Gerard Deulofeu Lazaro (Photo: FC Barcelona)

I was kidding on Twitter when Anderson scored his two goals that he was finally living up to the media who labelled him "the next Ronaldinho" early in his career. The next Pele, Maradona, and Cruyffs seem to pop up every other day in this media crazed age we are in and sometimes the media are right – which is only expected with the immense volume of ridiculous comparisons that are spewed by journalists and bloggers looking to draw traffic.

- Maxi Rodriguez

Their slogan says it all: Mes que un club.

While the rest of the footballing world revolves around victories and Cup runs, Barcelona occupy a space raised above the concerns of the bourgeoisie. Cultivated in a Catalonian landscape often subject to political and footballing persecution from the Spanish capital, Barcelona have never been so much a football "club," as an expression of Catalonian identity.

Swansea City The Barcelona of the Championship is a post from: Just Football

SWANSEA City fancy themselves as the Barcelona of the Championship and they're not ashamed to say so.

Barça are almost certainly the greatest side on the planet, probably the best in a generation and arguably the finest in history.

UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, Second LegsTransfer rumours of 'Fabregas to Barça' will be relit this evening in Catalonia as Arsenal take a slender advantage to the Camp Nou, while Shakhtar Donetsk fly Eastern Europe's flag with a narrow lead over Roma.Italian clubs are up against it, all trailing from their home legs: A defeat for the giallorossi in Ukraine coupled with Milan sinking in

La Familia!

The talk is over. As they say it is all about the scoreline and the scoreline is there for everybody to see. YES, we have put one behind the mighty Barcelona. We gave them a dose of their own medicine i.e 'Beautiful Football', so should we still call them 'mighty'?

AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri has paid a glowing testament to his striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic who he believes is on a level par with Barcelona's Lionel Messi.

The Swede has had a magnificent start to his Rossoneri career after joining from Catalonia on loan for the season with the inevitable transfer being made permanent at the end of the campaign.

Roman Abramovich may have done the biggest favour to all connected with Arsenal Football Club this January transfer window.

By spending £50M on Fernando Torres, a player who was woeful at the World Cup and unwanted by Barca or Real, the Russian oligarch has priced Cesc out of the reach of Barcelona for at least a couple of seasons.