So much for
the Spanish League being predictable.

There's not
a soul who doesn't expect Barcelona and Real Madrid to occupy the top two
places at the end of the season, but nor did anyone anticipate the two giants
tripping up so early in the season. Barca's 2-2 draw at Real Sociedad was
followed by the same scoreline at home to Milan last Tuesday.

Barca
started with two midfielders - Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano - in the
centre of their defence. It's something they've done before  without any
problem, but the pair were left standing as Milan's Alexandre Pato steamed
through to put

It's Saturday night in Barcelona and despite Pep Guardiola's side leading Atletico Madrid 5-0, the rain isn't the only thing putting a dampener on the atmosphere. Barca may boast the highest average attendances in world football at almost 80,000, but Camp Nou is far from a seething cauldron of noise.

Many of Barca's match-going fans are middle class and middle aged. They view going to the match like going to the theatre, where they expect to be entertained before they applaud. The thousands of football tourists who watch games are frequently blown away by the football and the huge stadium, but

With a historical record of one win in every five
games against Real Madrid, Espanyol's fans must have known what was coming at
the weekend.

10pm on a Sunday night is no time for a game of
football to kick off, but Espanyol's biggest crowd of 2011 nevertheless
congregated in the bars on the narrow streets of the barrio close to their new
home in Cornella in fine voice. Barça fans would not have appreciated the
songs, not that these supporters of their city rivals would care.

Espanyol have been restricted to winning just four
domestic cups in their history and an appearance in the 2007 UEFA

Monday night
saw a leading Spanish radio station broadcast live from Manchester, where David
de Gea, David Silva and Pepe Reina were the guests. The programme started at
midnight and while that might seem late, that's the culture in Iberia where
late night radio shows with big name players have always been popular.

Spain may be
European and world champions and most of the national team play for Barcelona,
but a significant number of top Spaniards play in England.

Spanish footballers
haven't always travelled well. Fernando Morientes' experience in Liverpool was
a chastening one, while the

One of the most engrossing aspects of sport is when David
slays Goliath. There have been countless one-off upsets in football matches,
it's one reason we love it. Who expected Hercules to win at Camp Nou last
season? Or third tier Leeds United to beat Manchester United in the FA Cup at
Old Trafford?

When David goes on an even more sustained run it becomes
more gripping. Stories like 'The Miracle of Castel di Sangro', the team from a
mountain village of 5,000 in central Italy who went up and up until they found
themselves in Serie B playing - and beating - the likes of Genoa away were so
good

La Liga may be on a two-week sabbatical because of international football, but there's plenty happening in Spain.

So much for being a fan-owned democracy which represent a panacea for football's ills - the bewildering politics of Barca have spilled into the courtroom, with former president Joan Laporta accused of acting more than a little dishonestly in Barca's dealing with that country famous for footballing glory, Uzbekistan.

Laporta, who still enjoys great popularity with influential figures such as Pep Guardiola and Johann Cruyff in Catalonia, could even face further legal action for

The
loudest noise at Camp Nou during Sunday's 5-0 thrashing of promoted Real
Sociedad didn't come when Lionel Messi scored two more wondrous goals. Nor was
it when a banner was unveiled objecting to Barça's recently announced shirt
sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation - though the banner won
approval. 

Of
course the 74,000 crowd purred in appreciation as Barca completely dominated
their opponents, setting a record for the number of passes in a football match
for the second time in a week. Barca made 971 against Rubin Kazan last Tuesday
and 938 against Sociedad. Such statistics have only

Sir
Alex Ferguson joked last week that he should cut his weekly press conferences
to once a month.

When
he arrived at Old Trafford, the United manager used to give his local newspaper
team news every morning. Now he sees all the media once a week, unless he
decides that he doesn't want to, like if he's irked by the reporting of a
particular incident. It's on Ferguson's terms and that's how he likes it. He
holds all the power and knows it.

When
it was pointed out that Bayern Munich have a daily press conference he laughed
away. As he would if he saw how Spanish clubs deal with the media.

I