Pre-season fixtures

The final pre-season friendly matches took place this week, and most sides will now take a rest before the league starts next weekend (if it does). The big games of the week all ended in penalty shoot-outs, with Barcelona winning their Gamper tournament against Boca Juniors, Espanyol losing against Parma and Celta being beaten by Sevilla. We now wait with baited breath to see if the league can sort out the dispute over television rights to enable everything to kick off on time. (24.08.03)