The buzz surrounding the Spanish Burgos province these days has been remarkable. They are of course, home to Mirandes, the Spanish third-division team that have made it to the semi-finals of the Copa del Ray! Mirandes will meet Athletic Bilbao tonight at their modest 6,000-seater stadium, which was expanded yesterday to accommodate another 1,700 visiting fans.

Barcelona [2 : 2] Real Madrid
No. of Yellow Cards : 9
No. Of Red Cards : 1

Somewhere beneath this 'Blaugrana Happiness Pile' lies Pedro, who scored the opening goal in Barca's 2-2 draw with Real Madrid at the Nou Camp last night.

The rematch of last week's el clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid will be played out tonight and amigas y chicos, the bloody war has already begun! Although both sides are trying to express solidarity among themselves, it's absurd to be all calm and polite when we know the outcome of tonight is going to make either Mourinho or Pep tear up their team sheets at the press conference.

Real Madrid. Top of La Liga. In the second round of the Champions League. In the latter stages of the Copa del Ray. All for what? The crowd are not happy and the white flags are waving not in support but in defiance. Why? Because Real Madrid keep losing to Barcelona. The fans are not stupid, they know that even Real Madrid win La Liga it will most likely be a pyrrhic victory, with Barcelona recognised as the best team in the country who just so happened to not win La Liga.

Jose Mourinho, the coach of Real Madrid, performed an interesting psychological ploy after El Clasico. The manager said that the responsibility for the result rests solely with him, stating that "victory has many father but defeat has only one, me". It was an obvious case of reverse psychology, acknowledging the defeat was his but still attempting to get the Real Madrid fans on side before they turn against him.

COPA DEL RAY
Real Madrid vs Barcelona 22:00

Lo maravilloso!! The Day of Reckoning has arrived. Put away your Vicente Del Bosque Panini stickers right NOW because the first el clasico of the year between Real Madrid and Barcelona will be fought out at the Bernabeu tonight.

Brazilian Swag King Neymar arrived in Barcelona from Zurich last night to ... (*drumroll courtesy of Sandro Rosell*)... film a sports commercial. Unfortunately, he won't be staying in the city for very long and you can imagine how paranoid Santos is about keeping him anywhere near the Blaugranas, especially since they both share similar sponsorship agreements!

It's right here, with Zinedine Zidane and Pele. Image: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images.

Lionel Messi took home the coveted FIFA Ballon d'Or trophy Monday evening, staving off tough competition from Barcelona teammate, Xavi Hernandez, and Real Madrid rival, Cristiano Ronaldo (who was a no-show since his squad is set to do battle with Malaga in the Copa Del Ray today).

Forget Lionel Messi, it was all about Homare Sawa's kimono (traditional Japanese costume) at the FIFA Ballon D'or awards in Zurich last night! The captain of the Japanese women's team and winner of the FIFA Women's Ballon d'Or lit up the stage with that outfit which should make her countrymen and women extremely proud today.

It's not everyday that you get to see Lionel Messi crying but Barcelona's official photographer Miguel Ruiz managed to capture this image of the Argentinean maestro during a private moment in the dressing room. This was snapped after Barcelona's defeat to Real Madrid in the 2011 Copa del Ray final, where some ugly scenes took place on the pitch.

Welcome to Offbeat Wednesday... our weekly special! In the jovial spirit of the week, let's start with Alvaro Negredo's wedding which took place on Christmas Eve. The Sevilla striker married the mother of Aitana, his ten-month old daughter in his hometown.

Jose Mourinho and Andre Villas-Boas are both nominated finalists for the FIFA Coach of the Year along with eight other coaches from around the World. Mourinho the 2010 winner, snapped Real Madrid's run of 18 years without a Copa del Ray and took the club to the final four of the Champions League, while Villas-Boas won a treble with Porto taking home the Portuguese League, the Portuguese Cup

Well of course, it must be horrible to lose to a team you beat 8-0 in the Copa del Ray last season but that's exactly what happened to Madrid against Levante last night... ¡qué pena!! Khedira got sent off shortly before half-time, which proved to be a huge boost for the home side and Levante capitalised on Madrid's sluggish performance to win 1-0 thanks to Arouna Kone's goal.

Barcelona have won the Champions League and the La Liga title as well. Got into the finals of Copa Del Ray as well and had it not been for the efforts of Real Madrid, Barcelona would have had yet another treble and yet another trophy under the guidance of Per Guardiola. Many people are now [..

Well, it's time for our weekly Crackovia Club where we showcase one of Barcelona's most favourite TV shows ever (it's a fact just mutter it to anyone on the street!) This week, Crackovia's key themes include misfiring and depressed Villa, Real's Copa del Ray celebrations and the Pique/Shakira combo.

UPDATE: Real Madrid also out witted Barcelona in the Copa Del Ray final but sadly my cable provider could not broadcast that match and hence, it is going to take a little bit before I review that, from what I have seen on youtube, it was little bit the same as in the Clasico two [...]

I know Barcelona have won the La Liga, I know Barcelona were in the final of the Copa Del Ray and I know that they will put on a good show against Manchester United in the finals of the Champions League in about a weeks time. But lets not just get too ahead of ourselves [...]

A very gutsy performance saw Real Madrid finally take down their arch rivals Barcelona in the Copa Del Ray final. Congratulations to Real Madrid and especially Mourinho, Pepe, Carvalho, and Ronaldo. The goal came after the first 90' ended in a 0-0 deadlock. A one two [read more]

So, the "Special one" does it again.
He has only gone and won the Copa Del Ray (King's Cup) in Spain tonight by beating the mighty Barcelona, in extra time 1-0.
Ronaldo headed home the goal for his 42nd of the season late in the game so, another trophy claimed by Mourinho.
He has now won silverware for FC Porto, Chelsea and Real Madrid amongst others in his remarkable Managerial career.

We all know the situation with Real Madrid this season. We are 2nd in the league and in the Copa Del Ray final after a very very long time and in order to win that trophy we need to beat none other than Barcelona. Barcelona are going at a rate that was unimaginable before in [...]

Real Madrid lost their Copa Del Ray match against Levante 0-2 but we had a lead of 8-0 from the previous leg so it really does not matter if we lost by such margin and Mourinho was aware of this fact as can be seen from the interview that he gave to the press. Real [...]

Barcelona booked their place in the Copa del Ray final with a comfortable 3-0 win over Almeria to give them a comprehensive 8-0 aggregate victory over two legs.

Pepe Guardia rested almost all his starers for the second leg, with Dani Alves and Sergio Busquets the only regulars in Barcelona's starting lineup.

Barcelona will look to return to winning ways after their Copa del Ray defeat to Real Betis when they face Racing Santander.
Preview
Eduardo Alvarez's Quiniela
CLUB PWDLGDPTS Barcelona1917115052Real Madrid1915313048Villarreal1912341839Valencia191144937Espanyol191117034Atlético19937830Athletic19928-229Getafe19838-127Mallorca19838-127Sevilla19829-526R Sociedad198110-225Hercules19649-622Deportivo19568-1121Racing19559-1120Osasuna19469-818Málaga195212-1717Sporting19379-1016R Zaragoza19379-1516Levante194312-1115Almeria19289-1514

Mirandés's remarkable Copa del Rey run came to an end at the semi-final stage after Athletic Bilbao thrashed them 6-2 at home to complete an 8-3 aggregate success and book a place in the final against either FC Barcelona or Valencia on 25 May.

Mirandés were bidding to become the first side from the Spanish third tier to reach the Copa del Rey final after up-set victories over Villarreal, Real Racing Club and Espanyol en route to the last four.