Carles Puyol has recovered in time from the injury he received playing for Spain on Wednesday, and has been included in Barça’s 18-man squad for tomorrow evening’s match against Betis (kick off 8pm). Giovani dos Santos and Santi Ezquerro return to the squad after injury. Giovani hasn’t played since the Villarreal game on March 9th while Ezquerro last played in the Copa del Rey against Alcoyano at the start of January. The negative side is that Gabi Milito hasn’t recovered in time but hopefully he will be fine for Tuesday’s Champions League game at Schalke.

Betis have had an inconsistent season but they have improved a fair bit since losing 3-0 at Camp Nou in November. They beat Real Madrid 2-1 in mid-February and since then they have won two, drawn one and lost two. It is unclear who will play in goal as Ricardo is a doubt with a shoulder injury though he has been included in the squad, coach Paco Chaparro may decide to continue with Casto Espinosa who played in last week’s 0-1 victory at Osasuna. Betis also have a problem at left back as Fernando Vega is suspended and Marko Babic is injured, the most likely solution is to switch ex-blaugrana Damia Abella to left back. Damia played nine games at right back for Barça’s first team in the 2004/2005 season. Betis are expected to play a 4-5-1 system with Mariano Pavone as a lone striker. Betis are currently 13th in the league with 35 points.

Barça are once again stretched due to injuries and they will have to forget about the Champions League for now and concentrate on putting maximum pressure on Madrid before their game with Sevilla on Sunday. The defence should be the same as last week with the only doubt being whether Eric Abidal returns in place of Sylvinho. Toure Yaya will probably struggle on in midfield though I said last week he really should have taken the operation. Up front we will see if Rijkaard continues with Henry or not after the Frenchman missed France’s victory over England due to back problems. Again I feel he should only play when he is feeling 100% fit.

I’m tempted to say that Barça have to win this game if they want to retain any hope of winning the league; however, after such crazy results in recent weeks who knows, maybe a draw could turn out to be a good result! As I write the venue for the game has still not been confirmed and will not be known for sure until the Committee of Sporting Discipline announces their decision this afternoon. If the appeal from Betis is successful the game will be played at Betis’s stadium the Ruiz Lopera, and if their appeal fails the game will take place in Atletico Madrid’s Vicente Calderon stadium.

Barça’s squad: Valdés, Pinto, Zambrotta, Puyol, Thuram, Abidal, Sylvinho, Edmilson, Toure, Xavi, Victor Sanchez, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Giovani, Bojan, Eto’o, Henry, Ezquerro.

Possible starting XI: Valdés; Zambrotta, Thuram, Puyol, Abidal; Xavi, Toure, Gudjohnsen; Bojan, Eto’o, Iniesta.

My Prediction: Betis 1 Barça 3