Figo's absence was felt. It has taken four fixtures for the current Spanish champions and front-runners for this year's title to finally 'look inside the lion's mouth'. With the help of Figo's absence, Alavés, which got shellacked in the two matches last season, opened up a wound inside the psyche of the players. This team can't find rythm or organization without all of their stars. Simao Sabrosa showed that he has a promissing future specially in the first half, but he also let it be known that he's not the caliber of Figo just yet. Rivaldo also contributed to the loss of play on the wings by always moving towards the center of the field often running into Cocu. The suffocating pressure on Pep Guardiola was the third and final element that Alavés used to stop the 'mighty Barça'. We hope that this week it will be a different outcome against Fiorentina in the Champions League. [20SEP99] - Webmaster Van Gaal: "The team is getting along great." Peace has finally come about in the Camp Nou dressing room after the much-publicised dispute between head coach Louis Van Gaal and Luis Enrique came to a close yesterday. There is a feeling of harmony and of cohesion that has benefited all the players and most importantly Louis Van Gaal. The head coach didn't even complain about Luis Figo's absence through suspension and added: "It's great, that means he can rest and I have all the faith in his substitute." His sub might be young Simao Sabrosa or even 'Bolo' Zenden. He also commented on the sending back of Xavi to Barça B: "My decision will be heavily criticized, but my philosophy is that a player this young (19) needs playing time." Barcelona take on Alavés with a better attitude and much more harmony. [18SEP99] - La Vanguardia Barcelona beat Espanyol BARCELONA 3 ESPANYOL 0 Rivaldo (74) Kluivert (83) Rivaldo (85) Brazilian forward Rivaldo scored twice and Patrick Kluivert notched his first league goal of the season as Barcelona eased to a 3-0 win over Catalan rivals Espanyol on Saturday. All three goals came in the second period, after an ugly clash between Luis Figo and Mauricio Pochettino -- the Portuguese winger lashing out after the umpteenth late tackle from his marker -- had seen both sides reduced to 10 men in first half injury-time. Barcelona made greater use of the extra space in the second half and in the end ran out comfortable winners in front of a 98,000 Nou Camp full house. The result made it three wins out of three for Louis van Gaal's side and left them two points clear at the top of the table. [13SEP99] -Reuters

Game Summaries League Alavés-Barça Fixture 4 Barça-Betis Fixture 5 Champions League Barça-Fiorentina Matchday 2 Fiorentina arrive in El Prat AC Fiorentina, co-leaders of the Serie-A in Italy arrive today in Barcelona's El Prat Airport. The club which boasts players like Argentina's Gabriel Batistuta, Portugal's Rui Costa, Yugoslavia's Predrag Mijatovic and former Barcelona player and ex-Spanish international Guillermo Amor will look to redeem themselves after a poor showing against Arsenal in their first Champions League match. "I am not going to help Van Gaal, Barcelona will play in the wings a lot and that's why Mijatovic will play and not Enrico Chiesa", said coach Giovanni Trapattoni. The triple threat of Chiesa-Batistuta-Mijatovic didn't hasn't performed as expected for the Florentine club. [21SEP99] - Webmaster Luis Enrique and Van Gaal make peace The long-awaited end to the feud between 'Lucho' and Van Gaal has ended. The two met yesterday and smoothed things over just in time for Luis Enrique to play in the match against Alavés in Vitoria. Van Gaal had claimed that he hadn't used Luis Enrique much "due to his lack of fitness", something the player rejected vehemently. Now, the two have apparently 'kissed and made up' and once again Luis Enrique will do what he loves doing... play football. [17SEP99] Van Gaal leaves Luis Enrique in the cold Barcelona coach Louis van Gaal sprang a major surprise ahead of his side's opening European Champions League game, leaving Spanish international midfielder Luis Enrique Martinez out of the squad to face AIK Stockholm. The attacking midfielder, who played in both of Spain's European championship qualifiers last week, was rested for Saturday's Spanish league win over Espanyol but had been widely expected to return for the vital European date on Tuesday. Luis Enrique is the latest in a long line of Barcelona old boys to fall foul of van Gaal who has extensively revamped the Barca squad in just over two years in charge. Popular figures such as Albert Ferrer, Ivan de la Pena, Brazilian striker Giovanni and the Garcia brothers, Oscar and Roger have all been sold by van Gaal. "Luis Enrique is in the same situation as Giovanni, Oscar or Roger," van Gaal said. "I look at the players every day and I have to decide who to pick. It's not just talent or quality that matters but also attitude, the system of play and the quality of the opposition." Van Gaal's decision to leave Luis Enrique on the sidelines is as strange as it is brave. The Asturian, who signed from arch-rivals Real Madrid in 1996, has blossomed into one of the most complete midfielders in the Spanish league.