A quick city tour of Barcelona before a flit to the “relaxing” island of Ibiza meant the chance to see one of the world´s great teams in action.

I swapped my beloved claret and blue for the Barca stripes for the day and settled down to see how proper footballers do it.

Then stone me. I was forced to spit out my sangria twice as newly promoted Hercules beat the mighty Barcelona.

That´s up there with Blackpool descending on Stamford bridge and waltzing away with all three points.

It made me realise what a tricky game football punting is so this week it´s time to have a little look at golf  – despite Everton winning our draw bet last week as  Man Utd crumbled in injury time.

All eyes in the golfing world will be on Celtic Manor next month when the Ryder Cup gets underway.

Europe are odds-on favourites but the top points scorer offers a decent bet in the well rounded shape of Miguel Angel Jiminez.

Big Miguel is 20/1 with Stan James to be Europe´s top points scorer and is a cracking each way price to hit the top three.

Young Rory McIlroy heads the list at 5/1 but the Ryder Cup does funny things to rookies so Miguel´s experience could be a crucial factor.

He´s in good form at the moment with several tour wins this year under his constantly straining belt and a string of decent finishes recently.

Nerves aren´t really his thing either. A steady diet of rioja and cigars means Miguel is one of the most relaxed players on tour.

His age and “fitness” might mean he doesn´t play every match but I´m sure Monty will turn to his experienced players if the Yanks put up more of a fight than expected.

Here´s to Europe silencing those irritating U-S-A chants led by our man Miguel.

Let´s hope it´s riojas all round come the end of the tournament.

Running Total for all bets to a £10 stake:   +£65