FC Barcelona today has the opportunity to show that its patience in the transfer window will pay dividends in the coming season when they face English side Tottenham Hotspur (20:00 GMT) in a preseason tournament in London to compete for the Wembley Cup.

wembley cup fc barcelona 24 07The competition also involves Scottish side Celtic, and Egyptian champions Al Ahly, who will be playing at Wembley before Barça and Spurs. A second set of games will be played on Sunday 26th July, where Barça will play Al Ahly, and Spurs will face Celtic. 3 points will be awarded for a win and 1 point for a draw. 1 extra point will also be awarded to a team for each goal scored. Naturally, the winner of the tournament will be the team which earns the most points. However if two teams are level on points after the two sets of games, the winner will be decided by the team who has the greatest aggregate goals. If the sides are still not separated, the winner will be the team which scored the fastest goal.

Barça favourites to wintottenham fc barcelona 24 07

Given FC Barcelona’s phenominally successful 2008/09 season in which it won the Copa del Rey, La Liga title and the Champions League, combined with Tottenham’s somewhat temperamental season, it is no surprise that the Catalan club are the bookies’ favourites to win the game.

Although Tottenham is one of the most successful clubs throughout English football history, its form in recent seasons has not reflected that. Having been pipped by local rivals Arsenal to 4th place three seasons ago, Spurs have gone on to have two somewhat disappointing seasons, finishing 11th and 7th respectively.

One previous tie

tottenham fc barcelona 24 07Results from past games between the two sides can not be drawn upon to predict a score for this game since FC Barcelona and Tottenham have only met in one competitive tie in the clubs’ history. A European Cup two-legged tie in 1982 resulted in a 1-1 draw in the first leg, and a 1-0 for Barça in the return leg.

11 of 28-man team are youth players

The tournament being a friendly means that Barça may use it as a way to ease in the new signings to the team, and to blood some youth. Of the 28 players that travelled to London, 11 are from Barça Atletic. For the 2008/09 preseason, FC Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola introduced several players from the youth team, including Sergi Busquets, Víctor Sánchez and Pedro Rodríguez, all of who played went on to play crucial roles in the club’s winning season.

Thierry Henry, Rafa Márquez and new signing Maxwell all look unlikely to feature tonight, however Brazilian defender Henrique who has returned on loan from Bayer Leverkusen will probably be given some minutes.

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