Fewer games in February, but just as intense

It’s been a hectic start to 2013, during the 25 days from the Kings Day game against Espanyol to Wednesday’s Clasico at the Bernabeu, Barça played eight games, an average of one every three days. It’s been a successful start too though, which has finished with the team 11 points clear at the top of the league and just a game away from another Cup final after seeing off Cordoba and Malaga.

February sees the rhythm of games ease off a little at the start of the month at least, but the intensity of the games Barça face certainly won’t be letting up, with a number of matches coming up that could define their season.

15 days without midweek games

The only two games the team face in the first fortnight of February are the trip to Valencia this Sunday and the visit of Getafe to the Camp Nou seven days later – both in the league. Even though this will be the first time in a while that the team haven’t played midweek, a number of the players will still be busy, as there are a number of international games next week.

However, following the game against Getafe, Tito’s players will all have a week free of games before they travel to the Nuevo Los Cármenes stadium to face relegation strugglers Granada. The Champions League knock out stages will begin that week, but Barça won’t be in action until the second group of games, the following week.

Champions League and Spanish Cup return

On February 20th, Barça will once again renew their challenge for the Champions League, when they face Milan at the San Siro in the first leg of the last 32 of the competition. The weekend after that, they face Seville and then play the second leg of the Spanish Cup semi-final against Real Madrid to close the month.