Barça take on Real Betis Balompie at Camp Nou tomorrow with hopes of erasing memories of last season’s game. In that game in May, Betis scored a last minute equalizer that allowed Real Madrid to go top of the league, and Barça never recovered.

Eric Abidal and Thierry Henry return to the squad for the game in place of Gabi Milito and Santi Ezquerro. It seems that Milito picked up a knock against Valladolid and has been rested for the game with Rangers on Wednesday.

Betis have quite a few players out; ex-Barça player Damià Abella misses the game through suspension and Melli, Nano, Rivas, Odonkor and top-scorer Sobis, who scored the late equalizer last season, are all out through injury. Betis are having a sorry season so far and are currently in 17th position with eight points. They have yet to win away from home.

This should be a good opportunity for Barça to take three easy points and put supporteres back in a positive mood before the Rangers match, but last season Betis were also struggling when they got a draw at Camp Nou. Henry and Abidal should both be back in the starting line-up which will mean Bojan and Sylvinho  start on the subs bench, Zambrotta will probably return at right back with Puyol partnering Marquez in the middle.

For a report on last season’s match (my first for this blog) go to - http://fcbnews.com/barca-1-betis-1/

The following 18 players are in the squad for tomorrow’s match: Valdés, Jorquera, Zambrotta, Puyol, Oleguer, Thuram, Marquez, Abidal, Sylvinho, Xavi, Toure, Iniesta, Gudjohnsen, Messi, Henry, Ronaldinho, Giovani, Bojan.

Possible starting XI: Valdés; Zambrotta, Marquez, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi, Toure, Iniesta; Messi, Henry, Ronaldinho.

My Prediction: Barça 2 Betis 0

What do you think the score will be?