Sin duda una de las peores humillaciones que se tenga memoria para el Real Madrid y para cualquier equipo en cualquier parte del mundo, de hecho 400 millones de personas vieron uno de los mejores partidos de la historia del F.C. Barcelona ante un sobrevalorado Real Madrid.

Xavi's pure brilliance in the midfield has been rewarded as the Spanish playmaker has been honored with the World Soccer Player of the Year for 2010. Xavi received 25.8% of the votes and edged out Lionel Messi for the award. Messi wasn't far behind however as he received 24.1% percent.

As for Barcelona, they were rated the third best team in the world.

Well, we have only ourselves to blame. We made a proper mess of the easiest group and somehow contrived to finish second, and will get a purple-and-blue gift wrapped Jack-in-the-box on Valentine's Day as a result. Arsenal have had more than decent luck in Champions League draws over the past few years, but good luck today would have meant getting Schalke, who topped their group and have Raul and Huntelaar playing up front.

By Chris Wright

Salt and indeed pepper

The agent of Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has rubbished rumours that his client is being courted by most of European football's biggest fish, claiming that no contact has been made with any club be it Inter Milan, Chelsea or Manchester United.

Any Barcelona fans thinking about ordering a DVD of Monday's El Clásico? Well, don't bother. This compilation has everything you need from Sergio Ramos kiss-blowing to dramatic views from the stands of the Camp Nou to the intricate touches of Lionel Messi to the despair on Iker Casillas' face.

Well, it turns out the banks won't accept loan repayments in the form of tiki-taka, which really mucks up my plans for that new hovercraft.

That footballing enterprise which famously dubs itself more than just a club is now more like everybody else: Barcelona's kowtowed to its debt and finally succumbed to a shirt sponsor.

The draw for the first knockout round has just been made in Switzerland and this is how it looks for the English clubs:

AC Milan v Spurs

Arsenal v Barcelona

Olympique Marseille v Manchester United

FC Copenhagen v Chelsea

On paper, it looks as if Chelsea have the 'easiest' tie, but Copenhagen are unbeaten in the league and eliminated Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos in the Group Stage.

A fortnight or so ago, debt-saddled (about €430 million at the last count) giants Barcelona announced that news that, for the first time in their grand 111-year history, the club had been forced to bow to the pervading market forces and sign a shirt sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation a move that would see the Arab organisation's logo replace that of children's charity UNICEF atop the famous blaugrana.

David Villa scored a double assisted twice by MessiGoing into El Clasico both Barcelona and Real Madrid looked dangerous and confident as they swept through La Liga with few difficulties. To say the truth, Real Madrid was the team which was full of momentum going into El Clasico, especially considering that they'd won their last seven matches and hadn't lost in La Liga yet before they travelled to the Camp Nou.

David Villa scored a double assisted twice by MessiGoing into El Clasico both Barcelona and Real Madrid looked dangerous and confident as they swept through La Liga with few difficulties. To say the truth, Real Madrid was the team which was full of momentum going into El Clasico, especially considering that they'd won their last seven matches and hadn't lost in La Liga yet before they travelled to the Camp Nou.

Carla Cristina não jogou nunca em Camp Nou, nem na Luz ou no Dragão. Nunca esteve em grandes palcos do futebol. A sua carreira é a vida de quase todas as jogadoras portuguesas, cheia de dificuldades, lutando contra más condições de trabalho, discriminação e tudo o resto que preeenche o dia a dia das jogadoras de futebol em Portugal.

01.12.2010 - Calígula - Los ecos de la paliza culé al Real Madrid danzan en la enorme caja de resonancia del fútbol que pormenoriza la peor semana de Mourinho entrenador.
Ya en pleno partido, cuando la goleada se hizo previsible, el Camp Nou entero coreó "Mourinho vete al teatro".

Madrid might boast one more club in La Primera than Barcelona, but at the moment is is the Catalans who are coming out on top. The thrashing of Real Madrid at the Camp Nou on Monday evening was hugely impressive and, coupled with Espanyol's win over Atletico Madrid at the weekend, gave the capital clubs plenty of thinking to do heading into the next round.

Pep Guardiola has been hailed as the man who best suits Barcelona but with much interest coming from some top clubs, including defending champions of the Premier League Chelsea, his future was unclear.

However, it looks like Barcelona are looking to keep a strong hold on the man who brought much silverware to Camp Nou as the Catalan club went on to offer Pep Guardiola a 5-year extension.

David Ramos - Getty Images

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It's a special "El Clásico" edition of the Anti-Power Rankings, in honor of Barcelona's masterful thrashing on Real Madrid from Monday.

Walking into Santiago Bernabeu is never an easy thing for the opposing team or the referees. As the pressure of the Real Madrid fans are soaring throughout the match, Valencia midfielder David Albelda, feels that the referees still remain influenced by the crowd.

As Los Che prepare to hopefully put another dent in Real Madrid's impressive start to the season, Albelda feels that the referees can easily cost them the game.

So short it's got an average height of 169.33 cm. That's almost a real person.

And it's decidedly Barcelona heavy. Actually, they might as well just hold the ceremony at the Camp Nou in their training tracksuits during a lull in cone work, with Pep making speeches scratched on scrap paper next to tactical notes whilst everyone's sucking on orange slices.

By IAN HOLLIDAY

Tottenham Hotspur went into its final match of the group stage knowing that it needed a win to ensure a first-place finish. Though they played with the sense of urgency that comes from such a situation, taking the lead on three separate occasions against hosts Twente, Spurs were unable to secure the needed result, settling for a 3-3 draw.

Tottenham progressed to the knockout stages as Group A winners with a thrilling 3-3 draw away to FC Twente, while Manchester United's defence was finally breached as they hit back against Valencia to top Group C following their 1-1 draw. Inter Milan missed the chance to claim the leadership of Group A as they were humbled 3-0 away to Werder Bremen, who finished bottom of the pile.

One of the more singular quirks of some football rivalries is an appropriation of the moral high ground by one club over another. It can be seen in some ways in the rivalry between Celtic and Rangers, where the perception from the outside has long been of a near-bunker mentality at Ibrox. A similar situation exists in Spain, where Barcelona have, in recent years, become a symbol of something other than just football.

Defending champions FC Barcelona continued their recent fine run of form with a 5-0 defeat of Real Sociedad at the Camp Nou on Sunday. The win sees Barca maintain their two point lead over challengers Real Madrid at the top of the Spanish La Liga. David Villa, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi and substitute Bojan Krkic all [.

Barcelona's desperation to lure back Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas to Camp Nou may have hit the rocks as the club turn their attention to another Premier League star, Luka Modric. The 25 year old is one of the most talented, entertaining and complete midfielders plying their trade in England.

Well we all knew that fate would throw Barcelona at us again once it was certain Arsenal would finish second in the Group Stages, and other than the obvious difficulty of facing the most in-form team in the world, the other big problem is that it will once again ignite the "Fabregas to Barcelona" talk [.

Although many rumors were circulating on various Spanish reports that Barcelona star, Andres Iniesta, could be on the verge on signing a new deal with Billionare club –Manchester City- head-coach David Platt went on to play-down the talks of the rumors.

"There isn't a player this club can't afford, although I don't really think that Iniesta is on our shopping list," said the Manchester City coach.