By Tim Stannard

Former president, Josep Bartomeu, spends the night in the slammer as Ronald Koeman prepares for a Copa del Rey comeback

Ordinarily, the Barcelona news today would be vaguely perky in nature - pondering over being back in the LaLiga title race and looking at the chances of Barcelona leaning on Saturday's morale-boosting win at Sevilla to repeat the performance in a Copa del Rey clash on Wednesday.

But this is Barcelona. 

More than a club. By some margin. 

In actual fact, it's a particularly unrealistic episode of 'Scandal' in the form of a football club but without Olivia Pope to neatly fix everything. 

Today's Sports Burst will start off with the ghosts of Barca's past to throw in a Dickensian metaphor in the mix for good measure. In this case, a former president spending the night behind bars - the second in a row to do so, in fact, after Sandro Rosell, had significant jail time. 

Josep Bartomeu and his former advisor, Jaume Masferrer, spent the night in police custody in Barcelona. Both went before a judge on Tuesday and were released on bail. Investigations will continue over their role in 'Barcagate' and "crimes of disloyal administration and corruption in business."

The present? Well Ronald Koeman will somehow need to prepare for a key game for Barcelona on Wednesday with a Copa del Rey semifinal second-leg against Sevilla in the Camp Nou - a match where Barcelona are currently 2-0 down, but will feel a little chirpier after Saturday's 2-0 win in LaLiga by the same score. 

And the future? While all of this is happening, three candidates for the club's presidential elections have been busy setting their agendas for the future, were they to win Sunday's poll. That includes who the new coach might be once the season is over and the Ronald Koeman era has run its course. 

While Xavi Hernandez is a familiar name in the rumor mill, leading candidate Joan Laporta is reportedly musing over Arsenal's Mikel Arteta to take charge in the summer. 

The Sports Burst live show will try and unpack all of this today on beIN XTRA at 11AM ET.

Doctor Zizou orders rest and recuperation ahead of the Madrid Derby

The other dominating story in LaLiga is purely soccer-related. Well, it is for the moment at least. And that's Sunday's Madrid Derby. 

After Atletico Madrid had dropped points in the race over the past few weeks before winning at Villarreal on Saturday, Real Madrid lost some of that advantage with a 1-1 draw against Real Sociedad on Monday. 

This now leaves some wiggle room for Atletico at the top of the standings, with the team having a five-point advantage over both Real Madrid and Barcelona but with a game in hand over the pair. 

Despite Diego Simeone's renowned gung-ho, all-attack, win-or-go-home approach to soccer, this situation might persuade the Argentinean coach to play Sunday's match in the Wanda Metropolitano a little more conservatively than normal and set up trip wires on the halfway line to dissuade any player from entering the Real Madrid half. 

As for Real Madrid, Coach Zizou set the priorities for the team that will try to get players like Karim Benezma and Eden Hazard back in action - "patience, calm and rest."

The Madrid Derby is live on beIN SPORTS on Sunday with coverage beginning from 9:30AM ET. 

Marseille's American owner denies sale of club 

A pivotal week in the future of one of Europe's great names continues on Tuesday with Marseille's American owner, Frank McCourt, in the city to oversee significant changes at the club including the appointment of new coach, Jorge Sampaoli. 

McCourt denied rumors of an attempted sale of the club and backed the former Chile and Argentina coach to succeed in Ligue 1 - "a brilliant choice who can bring back the passion for soccer." 

Sampaoli's task will not be an easy one - get Marseille into the Champions League places, which are currently 16-points away. The Europa League might have to suffice.

Ligue 1 has a full midweek round of action on Wednesday and Marseille will be in action against league-leading Lille at 3PM ET on beIN XTRA while beIN SPORTS has the title-race double-header between Lyon and Rennes at 1PM ET and Bordeaux vs. PSG at 3PM ET. 

As for today, there is a double dose of FIBA Champions League playoff action on beIN XTRA with a host of top US college stars on the court.  

Liverpool are also live on beIN SPORTS at 7:30PM ET in a Copa Libertadores, first qualifying round, second leg match at Universidad Catolica, with Liverpool holding a 2-1 lead.

Yes, it's Liverpool from Uruguay, rather than Anfield.