Barcelona must banish Betis blues

The Primera Liga leaders Barcelona travel to Real Betis's Luiz de Lopera stadium tonight where they have struggled over the past decade, winning only two matches and losing five, including a 3-2 defeat last season in a game they led by two goals. The defender Gerard Pique said: "In general, our track record at that stadium has been difficult."

Kaka, the AC Milan playmaker, looks like losing his fight to be fit for tomorrow's Milan derby against Serie A leaders Inter. His absence means Ronaldinho will return to the starting line-up and Inter keeper Julio Cesar said: "Naturally Milan may miss this great player [Kaka]. But Ronaldinho scored against me in the early-season fixture."

The Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc said he was unhappy that midfielder Yoann Gourcuff played the full 90 minutes for France's 2-0 friendly defeat against Argentina on Wednesday. "I thought I had understood Yoann would be substituted by Samir Nasri at half-time," Blanc said: "If we have him play all the time, we are going to break him."