Two games against the same side in less than a week. Five unanswered goals. That can't do you any harm when looking for a repeat of the 'sextuple,' right?

Wrong, as it turns out. Barcelona went out of the Copa del Rey last Wednesday despite a 1-0 win against Sevilla, courtesy of the away goals rule and a previous loss to the Andalusians at home. Thus, when the Southerners pitched up on Saturday night, there was going to be hell to pay.

The danger of an essentially two-horse race league is that headlines can get a tad predictable. Couple that with the partisan nature of the Spanish press and you can almost predict the articles before they are written.

It sounds like the very worst of Spain's liberal attitude to drink driving, but even in the paperwork-happy Catalonian capital you wouldn't catch a policeman pulling Pep Guardiola for controlling the league after six cups. That's probably because the country effectively shuts down over the extended Christmas period, but that's besides the point.

After an 'Abu Dhabi do' of which Fred Flintstone would be proud, F.C Barça can look back at 2009 as their best year in living memory. The auxiliary Super Cups boosted their total to six trophies, and although half of those honours were token competitions, you wouldn't deny Celtic of their right to boast about being Scottish champions...