The Warm-Up: FA Cup delivers, Joey Barton is beyond parody

We don’t have to discuss the FA Cup’s significance to humanity after every round of games, so let’s not re-open that bottomless can of worms. However, for all the sighing about broadcasters’ unimaginative choices and weakened teams (almost all of whom have been duly dispatched, like Leicester, or at least learned the error of their ways, like Tottenham), the quarter-final line-up is a very tidy cross-section of what we want and expect from English football’s grand old side dish.

At the top of the bill, a perfectly good reason to televise Manchester United, as Jose Mourinho’s quietly relentless team will visit Stamford Bridge to try and avoid the artful evisceration they were subject to in the league.

Whatever their motivation, there is likely to be more top-six contention for a trip to Wembley in the semi-finals. Spurs brushed aside a neat but paperweight Fulham to earn a visit from the pitch-invasion enthusiasts of Millwall, while Manchester City have a little more on their plate: a replay with upstarts Huddersfield to decide who will travel to Middlesbrough in the quarters.

That just leaves the imagination waiting to be captured by the fourth quarter-final tie, in which Lincoln will mount another #Impvasion of either Sutton United or Arsenal, a question that every neutral will hope isn’t too clear-cut this evening.

Having their backsides handed to them by Bayern Munich is one thing, though – and there’s a limit to just how Arsenal Arsenal can be. For the cup itself, both scenarios are a win: either there’s a guarantee of a non-league side booking a coach trip to the national stadium, or the telegenic spectacle of Lincoln at the Emirates.

There’s no margin for error finer than in La Liga. Barcelona have to win every week, at the best of times, but now they really can’t afford to slip up. With Real Madrid enjoying a narrow lead and two games in hand, Barca limped from a 0-4 dismantling by Paris Saint-Germain to a visit from Leganes on Sunday night.

A third-minute opener from Lionel Messi – beyond peripheral at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday – looked like swiftly killing two redemptive birds with one stone. But Leganes – showing endeavour unbefitting of a team hovering above the drop zone – kept their nerve and kept chipping away. Unai Lopez finally levelled matters after 71 minutes, and Camp Nou made their feelings about it known to the under-pressure Luis Enrique in the home dugout. With another mini-crisis looming, Barcelona found a lucky break: Neymar was brought down in the box and, with two minutes left on the clock, Messi was decisive from the spot. After that midweek surrender in Paris, there are still signs of life.

Blackburn Rovers hasn’t been a fun place to be in recent years, so it’s no surprise to see them emerge as a candidate for Slightly Bleak Football Photo of the Season:

“Shall we chuck it?”

“Nah, you never know.”

Some (yes, hello) might have had to recently double-check Wikipedia to see that Lincoln were no longer among the 92 league clubs, but the National League leaders still comfortably fit the role of history boys, giantkillers and any other headline-friendly title you might wish to bestow on them.

After his side’s well-executed shock at Burnley, manager Danny Cowley was up at 5:30am to analyse footage of North Ferriby United ahead of their return to league duties tomorrow night. There’s always a healthy dollop of earnestness about non-league managers when they’re thrust into the FA Cup spotlight, but there’s little indication that Cowley – and, by extension, Lincoln City as a whole – are doing anything differently.

“What happened yesterday has made Tuesday that much more difficult,” Cowley told BBC Radio Five Live. "After being at a Premier League ground Saturday I’m really looking forward to going back to proper football."

We’ll interpret that as an admission that the Imps – when they resume their FA Cup adventure next month, one step from Wembley – will be in the realms of fantasy football.

Feigning injury and Joey Barton? 2008 wants its talking points back. One of the inescapable laws of the Magic of the FA Cup is that the big clubs are on a hiding to nothing when they host a minnow. On that basis, Barton trying to get Lincoln’s 16-stone striker Matt Rhead sent off – whatever the meandering explanation afterwards – was the dictionary definition of A Bit Much.

Patience with the incident, and its fallout, was already wafer-thin before football’s lowest-budget pantomime villain fired up his Instagram with an impenetrable attempt at the last word.

Barton’s obviously not worth getting too hot under the collar about, but there is still some value in pointing and laughing, even if it’s starting to look like he’s well in on the joke.

A humbled Andrea Pirlo on the set-piece prowess of Roberto Baggio, who reached the grand old age of 50 at the weekend. With video evidence, Emmet Gates narrows it down to Baggio’s top five free-kicks for the Guardian.

Chelsea v Manchester United in the FA Cup conjures up a handful of memories but none more fun than this – United racing into a 5-0 lead at Stamford Bridge in 1998, cupping their ears to the Stamford Bridge crowd, only for the home side to claw back some dignity. Starting with a sumptuous chip from Graeme Le Saux…

Sutton United v Arsenal. The tie of the FA Cup fifth round. Not just a banana skin for Wenger’s side, but a 3G artificial one at that.

Welbeck might have had a lucky escape. On the other hand, Sutton 0 Arsenal 4 (Giroud 14, 28, 76, Iwobi 52) looks just as likely as a second seismic shock of the extended weekend. Either way, Arsenal players will be finding those little black rubber crumbs on the floor for weeks afterwards.