The second round of the Spanish league programme will constitute a late show for fans of Barcelona and Seville.

Spanish supporters are used to late-evening starts but for this Nou Camp encounter their evening meal can go into extra-time and sleeping bags might be required afterwards with their league match kicking off at five minutes past midnight on Wednesday morning.

While David Beckham's Real Madrid star ensemble head off to Villarreal for a sedate mid-evening start on Tuesday, Barca have decided to get their own back on Seville after their rivals refused a request to play the match a day earlier.

Barca had been hoping to have the match brought forward a day in order to field their international players, who face call-ups for Saturday internationals and who would have had to join their squads ahead of a Wednesday evening match.

None of Seville's players, in contrast, faces an international call-up and the club blasted Barcelona for thinking it is "the centre of the universe" before refusing to switch day.

Barcelona are following the letter of the law by having the match on Wednesday as originally planned - but as near to Tuesday as they can manage.

Barca hope to lure as many nightowls as they can by offering free food and pre-match entertainment - had they played the match an hour or two later a free breakfast might have been the better option.

"Seville's rather selfish attitude is an insult to intelligence. All the other clubs in a similar position have brought their match forward," said Barca's vice-president Sandro Rosell.

Sleepless nights are not what Beckham will have to endure as he took only two minutes of his Primera Liga career to get on the scoresheet in Saturday's 2-1 win over Real Betis.

And with Real playing on Tuesday the England skipper can play and then join up with the national squad after the Villarreal trip for Saturday's Euro 2004 qualifier against Macedonia.

Beckham has impressed in his last two outings, also scoring in last Wednesday's Super Cup win over Mallorca, but coach Carlos Queiroz still faces media insistence that his defence needs shoring up if they are to win major honours.

Brazilian striker Ronaldo has switched to number nine from 11 with the loan departure of Fernando Morientes to Monaco, but a 14 million euro bid for Valencia's central defender Roberto Ayala has run into the sand, prompting Marca daily to trumpet on Monday: "Everything up front - nothing at the back."

Argentine international midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme, who has joined Villarreal on loan from Barcelona for this season, opened the war of words with Real.

"Real are a great team but they can lose to anybody. They are not invincible," Riquelme told Marca.

Elsewhere in second day league action Osasuna, boosted by an opening-day success at Albacete, host Valencia while last year's runners-up, Real Sociedad, host Celta Vigo, with South Korean Lee Chun Soo set to make his home debut.

Deportivo La Coruna, third last season, meet Athletic Bilbao in one of Wednesday's highlights.

Many of the Wednesday kickoff times had not been set by Monday afternoon - but none was expected to involve a midnight football feast of the kind planned by Barca.

FIXTURESTuesday: Villarreal v Real Madrid (1900 GMT), Osasuna v Valencia (1900 GMT), Real Sociedad v Celta Vigo (1945 GMT), Barcelona v Seville (2205 GMT)

Wednesday: Atletico Madrid v Albacete (1930 GMT), Murcia v Racing Santander TBA, Valladolid v Malaga TBA, Real Mallorca v Real Zaragoza TBA, Real Betis v Espanyol TBA, Deportivo La Coruna v Athletic Bilbao -TBA