Yes folks, there are just 24 hours until kick-off for the big game. All the local press are saying that Ronaldinho will start as a substitute tomorrow, something that I still find hard to believe. The news at lunchtime showed Ronaldinho playing the fool during yesterday’s training session after which Frank Rijkaard took him to one side for a private chat. The press are saying Rijkaard wasn’t happy with Ronaldinho’s attitude, and from this they deduce that Ronnie will start on the bench.

The alternative to Ronaldinho is Giovani dos Santos who last week substituted Leo Messi when he got injured. In Giovani’s favour he’s a more natural right-sided player so he would fit in easily in Messi’s place, Ronaldinho and Iniesta both seem more suited to the left. Giovani also works more at pressurising opponents than Ronnie, and with Samuel Eto’o leading the line, Rijkaard may want to put as much pressure as possible on the Madrid defence.

However, we must remember that Giovani is only 18 years old, and he has yet to score a league goal for Barça. Ronaldinho is still a great free-kick taker, and with no Leo Messi there is no other decent penalty taker (Sorry, but I don’t trust Eto’o with penalties). Ronaldinho will surely be motivated for the game and he also has experience on his side. Perhaps Rijkaard is just trying to outwit Madrid.

The press also say that Deco will be on the bench too. In this case I think they are probably right. Eidur Gudjohnsen played very well at Valencia and also against Stuttgart, while since his injury Deco has only played 45 minutes against Depor and 26 minutes against Valencia.

The news from Madrid is that Guti will make the trip with the team and is fit to play. Tomorrow we will see if he plays or not. Talking about Guti yesterday got me thinking about my least favourite Madrid players of all time, I was going to prepare a list of my top ten but in the end there are three players who stand out by a mile from the rest. I naturally dislike all Madrid players but if I was introduced to Iker Casillas, for example, I would probably shake his hand. The three that come to mind produce a physical reaction when I see them on the telly that I can only describe as nausea. They are: 

1. Luis Figo. There’s only really one thing that I dislike about Figo but it is a biggie. It’s not just the fact that he left Barça to join Madrid, it is the way that he did it. I don’t hate Laudrup because he left for sporting reasons, but Figo signed a contract with Florentino Perez before Perez had become president of Madrid. So Figo not only left for money, he also supported someone for the Madrid presidential elections while still under contract with Barça. Did he think about all the kids in Barcelona who wouldn’t be able to wear their Barça shirt with his name on it? Or about the cost to many families of buying these kids a new shirt with someone else’s name? No he didn’t. He took the money and ran. He will never be forgiven in Barcelona.
2. Pedja Mijatovic. It’s difficult to explain why you don’t like some players. Maybe it is the way they celebrate a goal, maybe it is the way they dress off the pitch, maybe it is for the comments they make. With Mijatovic it was all these things and more. He may have been quite a good player but he behaved as though he thought he was a god. To prove what a dickhead he was, he once reprimanded a fan who ruffled his hair, I have to hold down the vomit just thinking about him.
3. Guti. Yes Guti, the boy who never grew up. I know a lot of footballers dress like hollywood stars, however, Guti does it but holds himself like a kid, he looks like he knows one day everyone is going to point at him and laugh. When he started at Madrid he wanted to be like Fernando Redondo and later he wanted to be like Beckham, someone really needs to tell him he is not good-looking. His behaviour on the pitch is also childlike, he cries when he is fouled and cries when the ref gives a decision against him. He is a tremendously talented player who should have been a regular for the Spanish national team, but his attitude has always let him down.