It's not all about La Liga today. There are five Bundesliga matches going on right now, with the top four and bottom four all in action.

Half-time in all of them right now: The big surprise is that RB Leipzig, in second place, are 2-0 down at home to third-from-bottom Hamburg. Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Walace with the goals there. Eintracht Frankfurt, in third, are 1-0 down at mid-table Bayer Leverkusen. All good news for leaders Bayern Munich, even though they are being held 0-0 at Ingolstadt.

Borussia Dortmund, in fourth, are drawing 1-1 at bottom club Darmstadt.

First booking has not taken long to arrive, and it has gone to Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti, for giving Ruben Sobrino what can only be described as a great big comedy shove as the Alaves winger threatened to get away down the left flank.

Barcelona have started on the offensive here. Mind you, they did in the reverse fixture last September too, and ended up being caught cold. Anyway, it's Lionel Messi, found by Neymar, who lets go with an angled shot that keeper Fernando Pacheco falls on without too much trouble.

Alaves, roused into life, counter with an attack of their own, and Marcos Llorente fires a shot well over from a good 25 yards.

Ivan Rakitic with an early burst down the right for Barcelona, loops over a cross to the far post. Luis Suarez perhaps gets a little nudge from Alaves defender Carlos Vigaray, but not enough to convince the referee.

Referee Carlos Clos Gomez, who took charge of El Clasico in December, gives a blast on the whistle, and we're off. Alaves in blue and white strips, Barcelona in their light green away strip.

Tell you what, let’s get a second opinion. Here’s Lori Reid in the Daily Express:

“Looking for solutions, openings or opportunities? It’s time to let your imagination flow, open up to creativity, joint projects and romance. This week, new energy and fresh drive gives you wings.”

Creativity? Joint projects? New energy? Fresh drive? I think we might be on to something here.

Alaves coach Mauricio Pellegrino doesn't rate his side's chance of a double all that much, though.   

“To beat Barca, the planets will have to align,” he says.

So will they? Pellegrino was born on October 5, 1971, which makes him a Libra. Let’s check out his horoscope. Here’s Justin Toper in today’s Daily Mirror.

“The Sun at perfect angles to Jupiter in Libra represents a mutual attraction. However, it’s not only your emotions you need to keep under control. Social arrangements are subject to cancellation. What is inconvenient is that you’ve fallen for the wrong person.”

Hmm, can’t see anything about beating Barcelona in there.

The question for Luis Enrique today is: Will history repeat itself? Back in September, he rather took his eye off the ball for the home match against Alaves, leaving Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta on the bench to keep them fresh for a Champions League match against Celtic a few days later. As mentioned, Alaves won 2-1 at the Nou Camp, with goals from Deyverson and Ibai Gomez.

The Champions League is back on the horizon again for Barca this week: They have a last-16 first-leg trip to Paris St-Germain on Tuesday.

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Alaves are without Edgar Mendez, their midweek matchwinner, because of injury, and make seven changes in all. Goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco, defenders Victor Laguardia and Theo Hernandez, and midfielder Marcos Llorente are retained. Brazilian striker Deyverson, who scored when Alaves won 2-1 at the Nou Camp in September, is on the bench.

Alaves: Pacheco; Vigaray, Alexis, Laguardia, Hernandez; Llorente, Torres; Katai, Krstici, Sobrino; Santos.

Substitutes: Ortola, Raul, Camarasa, Romero, Garcia, Femenia, Deyverson.

Suarez will miss the Copa del Rey final through suspension as a result of his red card, but the ban does not apply to La Liga games, and so he starts today in a Barca side showing six changes to the one that won through in midweek. Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano, Rafinha and Arda Turan are all out injured; Neymar returns in attack. Andres Iniesta is on the bench.

Barcelona: ter Stegen; Vidal, Umtiti, Mathieu, Digne; Rakitic, Busquets, Gomes; Messi, Suarez, Neymar.

Substitutes: Cillessen, Roberto, Alba, Iniesta, Denis Suarez, Alena, Alcacer.

Alaves reached the Copa del Rey final for the first time in their 96-year history on Wednesday as a 1-0 home win over Celta Vigo secured a 2-1 aggregate victory.

Barcelona, winners for the last two seasons, made it to their fourth successive final despite having both Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez sent off in a tempestuous second leg at the Nou Camp on Tuesday. A 1-1 draw on the night took Luis Enrique's side through 3-2 overall.

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Magic of the cup? They love it at Alaves and Barcelona. Both teams won through to May's Copa del Rey final in midweek. Today they celebrate by facing each other in La Liga at the Estadio Mendizorrotza. Barcelona will go top of La Liga - at least for a few hours - if they avoid defeat. Can they do it? Let's find out. Welcome along.

Image source, Getty Images