I am well aware of the fact that Barcelona is big favorite against Almeria. But I also think that Almeria is able to keep Barcelona at least for 45 minutes. Barcelona already won against Almeria with very high 8:0 (20.11.2010) in Primera Division. But since then Almeria is playing much better. For example Almeria managed to stay unbeaten against Real Madrid just two weeks ago. Even more, they were close to the victory and only Granero's late goal prevent a big surprise.

For this game Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola will probably be without Puyol, Dani Alves, Jeffren Suarez, Bojan Krkic and Jose Pinto. Almeria will be without injured Juanito, Juanma Ortiz and Marcelo Silva.

The main reason why I am thinking Almeria could stay unbeaten in the first half is their good form. Almeria is unbeaten in the last four matches. Even more, they won three of the last four. The only draw came at the mentioned game with Real Madrid. Look the results:

Jan 23, 2011���Almeria - Osasuna 3:2���
Jan 19, 2011���Deportivo - Almeria 2:3 - kup
Jan 16, 2011���Almeria - Real Madrid 1:1
Jan 13, 2011���Almeria - Deportivo 1:0 - kup

Finally, Barcelona lost from Betis in the last cup match (even that was enough for progresing) and showed some signes of tiredness. I expect Guardiola to start without some of his best players and that is another reason for my pick. So, draw at the halftime and Barcelona victory at the end is possible.