[rcgills]

Few stats for tonight's game, for anyone interested. Valencia are unbeaten in their last 6 visits to the Camp Nou (2 wins and 4 draws), and they've scored in their last 7 visits here. Today's Marca also points out that under Rijkaard, Barcelona have a poor record in 2 legged competitions (Copa del Rey and Champions League) when they have to play the home leg first. Of 5 rounds where they've had a home leg first, the only one they won (the tie overall, not the home leg itself) was against Zaragoza, and even then they lost the home leg before winning the away leg. The other 4 saw them lose overall to Zaragoza, Getafe, Chelsea and Liverpool. In contrast, of the 17 ties they've played with the away leg first, they've won 15 of them.

Of course, whether you believe any of that is relevant to tonight's game is another matter, but them's the facts.

Lay of Barcelona, and Barcelona not to keep a clean sheet for me.