FC Barcelona News: 6 January 2012; Jordi Roura Confirms Tito Vilanova Will Return To the Bench Against Espanyol

Jordi Roura: "Tito will be on the bench against Espanyol" | FC Barcelona
The day before Barça restart their league campaign with a mouth-watering local derby against Espanyol, Jordi Roura confirmed that this Sunday in the Camp Nou, "Tito will be on the bench". He revealed: "He still has to undergo treatment but he is in good spirits and very strong, and that’s the important thing". Speaking at the pre-match press conference, he admitted it was a role he hoped he wouldn’t have to take too often.

Penultimate training session ahead of Espanyol match | FC Barcelona
All available first team players trained with complete normalcy, while Éric Abidal, who focused on rehabilitation work recovery, and Isaac Cuenca, who worked out in the gym, trained apart from the main group. Adriano Correia, who withdrew from training on Friday, trained with the group.

FC Barcelona - Espanyol: A look back at the Catalan derbies | FC Barcelona
The most recent Barça-Espanyol encounters treated us to a massive amount of goals and a lot of memories. To prime the pump ahead of tomorrow’s match, here’s a video recap of the most recent Catalan derbies. The video features players like Ibrahimovic, Ronaldinho, Kluivert and Eto’o, among others.

Spotlight on RCD Espanyol | FC Barcelona
Espanyol play at their newly minted stadium Cornellà-El Prat, which opened its doors in 2009. Before that however, FC Barcelona’s city rivals played at the famous Estadi Olímpic Lluís Campanys - also known as Estadio Montjuïc - in Barcelona’s Olympic park. Espanyol’s first stadium was located in the Sarria neighborhood of Barcelona, where they played from 1923 to 1997.

Córdoba and Málaga await FC Barcelona this week | FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona's upcoming week is marked by two tough matches, the first at the Camp Nou and the second at the Rosaleda. This Thursday, the team led by Tito Vilanova will host Córdoba in the return leg of the last-16 of the Copa del Rey, and on Sunday the Blaugrana will travel to Andalusia to face Málaga in La Liga.

Sevilla back to winning ways | Sky Sports Football
Emir Spahic's late goal gave Sevilla a much-needed 1-0 win over Osasuna as they put their dismal end to 2012 behind them. Spahic fired in from Jose Antonio Reyes' knock-down in the 83rd minute to give Sevilla only their first win in six matches after they had slipped down to 14th place before the winter break.

Valencia add to Granada woes | Sky Sports Football
Second-half goals from Jonas and Pablo Piatti helped Valencia recover from a goal down to beat 10-man Granada 2-1 at Nuevo Los Carmenes. The hosts had to play for almost an hour with a man less as Mikel Rico was shown an extremely harsh second yellow card when referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco adjudged him to have handled 11 minutes before half-time.

Levante fight back to down Athletic - Yahoo! Eurosport UK
Levante were trailing from the sixth minute after Aritz Aduriz headed Bilbao in front with his 11th goal of the campaign, but the overlapping Christian Lell blasted an equaliser into the top corner after 26. The visitors had young defender Aymeric Laporte sent off a minute before the break and Vicente Iborra headed in from close range before the teams went in for halftime.

Aspas double boosts Celta Vigo | Sky Sports Football
Two goals from Iago Aspas and another wonderful strike from Alex Lopez were enough to hand Celta Vigo only their second win in 11 league games as they moved three points clear of the relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Valladolid.