Didier Drogba this week dropped the biggest hint yet that he would love to partner fellow African striker Samuel Eto’o at Barcelona. That dream partnership is unlikely to materialise during the current transfer window, which has so far been relatively uneventful in Spain. There is plenty of time for significant moves, but for the time being the player-drain of the African Nations Cup is the most important issue for bettors to be aware of.
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Samuel Eto’o made the most of the extra week Barcelona had negotiated for him to stay in Spain before joining the Cameroon squad ahead of the start of the African Cup of Nations this Sunday. Eto’o scored twice as Barcelona beat Murcia 4-0 at the Nou Camp last weekend, ensuring the gap between the Catalans and Real Madrid – at the top of La Liga – remained at seven points. Coach, Frank Rijkaard, will now be without his services for several weeks, possibly longer depending on how well the Indomitable Lions do in Ghana.
Rijkaard is also without the injured Lionel Messi, Deco and Ronaldinho placing the goal-scoring onus on Thierry Henry, while we are likely to see more of 17 year old teenage whiz-kid, Bojan Krkic, who has been used sparingly to date, but has three league goals. Barca progressed to the last 16 of the Copa del Rey on Tuesday night with a 0-0 draw against Sevilla on Tuesday night, which is their third home game without victory. They entertain Racing Santander on Sunday, currently sixth in La Liga, on the back of excellent home form, but shaky away from home, where they have lost three of the last four. Diminutive striker, Pedro Munitis, is sidelined with a wrist injury which is a big blow.
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Atletico are currently riding high in third place, ten points behind their city rivals, having kept clean sheets in five of their last six league games. You do have to go back to 1999 for the last time Javier Aguirre’s side beat their city rivals, but two of the last three encounters at the Vicente Calderon Stadium have been drawn, so Real cannot afford another below-par performance. Madrid are without the injured Gabriel Heinze, Arjen Robben and Christoph Metzelder, while Mahamadou Diarra is in Ghana with Mali.
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