Barcelona will be without Brazilian star Ronaldinho for their next La Liga match, which is at Nou Camp against local rivals Espanyol this weekend, in what could be a blow to their chances of retaining the Spanish title. However, the punishment of missing just one match is also a relief to the defending champions.

27-year-old Ronaldinho will be available for the final match of the season against relegated Gimnastic Tarragona.

Ronaldinho, who is currently the fourth-highest goal-scorer in La Liga with 20 league goals, had been sent off against Getafe last weekend for kicking out at defender David Belenguer, after the attacker had been at the receiving end of cynical challenges for most of the match and was deemed to have been provoked by the Spanish Federation's Disciplinary Committee.

The Catalans and Real Madrid have same number of points with two games remaining but the latter are on the top of the table due to better head-to-head record. Any slip-up for Frank Rijkaard’s side coupled with victory for Real is likely to decide the fate of the title in the remaining outings.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | google | yahoo | technorati