Early Barcelona attack. Luis Suarez surges through the middle, and is rugby tackled to the floor by Las Palmas midfielder Roque. It's a proper rugby tackle too, arms round the waist and everything. Roque is booked.

Lionel Messi, who scored a beauty of a free-kick at Villarreal last Sunday right at the end, has a chance from a similar distance - central, 25 yards out - but sends the ball over the bar.

Off we go. Barcelona in blue and red, Las Palmas in yellow.

Having earlier mentioned Las Palmas' poor away league record, it's only fair to point out that they actually secured a victory on their travels in midweek - albeit to no avail. 

Quique Setien sent what was pretty much a reserve team to Atletico Madrid for the second leg of their Copa del Rey meeting. But despite aa 3-2 win on the night, they lost 4-3 on aggregate.

Mateo Garcia, the only man to start both that fixture and last weekend's 1-0 win over Sporting Gijon, drops to the bench for a breather. Four players are retained from the win in Madrid, including three of the back four.

English fans will recognise Nabil El Zhar, once of Liverpool, and Kevin-Prince Boateng, formerly of Tottenham and Portsmouth.

Las Palmas: Varas; Lopes, D Garcia, Michel, Lemos; Viera, Roque, Gomez; Tana, El Zhar, Boateng.

Luis Enrique picked a pretty strong side for that game - not all teams do in the Copa del Rey - and perhaps as a result as that, has gone in for a little rotation today.

It's a fascinating selection, actually: Andres Iniesta and Neymar drop to the bench, while defender Gerard Pique isn't involved at all. Arda Turan is the third man in attack beside Messi and Luis Suarez. Enrique was bitten when a high-risk selection brought about a home defeat by promoted Alaves in September. Could it happen again?

Barcelona: ter Stegen; Alba, Umtiti, Mascherano, Vidal; Rafinha, Gomes, Busquets; Turan, Messi, Suarez.

Image source, AP

The contract brouhaha doesn't appear to have affected Messi's form, though. He has scored in each of his last six appearances, including the decisive goal in midweek as Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 on the night (and 4-3 on aggregate) to secure a Copa del Rey last-16 tie against Real Sociedad.

It's been another interesting week for Barca, who have sacked a club director for disparaging comments made about Lionel Messi.

Pere Gratacos, the club's director of institutional sporting relations, was reported as saying that Lionel Messi would not be the player he is without the help of his team-mates.

Uncontentious? Well, bear in mind that Barca are trying to persuade Messi to extend a contract that runs out at the end of next season, and negotiations are going nowhere fast. Gratacos' comments, it was felt, were not helpful. And so the director has gone.

Image source, AP

Image source, Rex Features

Long ago, when Norwich City were a lot better than they are now, there was a comedian (I forget who, sorry) who made a joke about them having a great home record because all their opponents were knackered with travelling by the time they got there.

Perhaps that's the reason Las Palmas' home record is excellent (they're unbeaten in La Liga, and deservedly took a point off Real Madrid in September) while their away record isn't (no league victories on their travels since the season's opening weekend).

It's an away game for Quique Setien's side today. Good news, perhaps, for Barcelona - who could do with a bit of good news, to be honest.

While Plymouth to Carlisle is a mere 388 miles by road, Las Palmas have made the mammoth journey of around 1,400 miles from their Gran Canaria base, off the west coast of Morocco, to the north-east of Spain to face Barcelona this afternoon.

As Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders once sang: "It's very far." 

(You thought I was going to do a Proclaimers gag there, didn't you? Oh, all right, here's a picture of the Proclaimers. Never satisfied, you lot.)

Image source, Getty Images

Hello. You know how, whenever there's a television report on, say, Carlisle v Plymouth, it often begins with a remark on how far the away fans have had to travel? Well, this is going to be like that, times 10.