Cristiano Ronaldo struck his sixth Liga hat-trick of the season as Real Madrid came from behind to beat ten-man Levante 4-2 and go ten points clear of Barcelona at the summit.

FC Barcelona were shocked 3-2 at Osasuna on Saturday, but Gustavo Cabral gave Levante an unexpected fifth-minute lead it looked like Madrid would miss out on the opportunity to push their lead into double digits.

The 2011/2012 La Liga title has been all but decided after a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick helped Real Madrid overcome Levante 4-2 to go 10 points clear of Barcelona. Following Barcelona's 3-2 defeat to Osasuna the night before hosts Real Madrid knew that a win would see them go a mighty 10 points clear and further [.

Welcome to Offbeat Wednesday, where we bring you the wacky and fun side of football! This week, it's all about birthday celebrations. From Neymar's Birthday boat extravaganza in Brazil and Sara Carbonero's birthday celebrations to Ronaldo's new Lamborghini, it was all about the fiestas!

Brazil's wonder kid of the moment, Neymar, turned 20 over the weekend and what better way to celebrate it than in true carioca style at a club?

Robin van Persie's on an English Premier League record-setting pace this season as his hat trick against a woeful Blackburn team on Feb. 4 upped his league total to 22 goals in 24 games. He's already eclipsed last year's Golden Boot scoring record of 20 which was shared by Manchester City's Carlos Tevez and Dmitar Berbatov of Manchester United and his own mark of 18 EPL goals.

Feliz Futbolitinos! We kick off this weekend's edition with Santos' studs Ganso and Neymar who were the centerpiece of the selecao's latest national team kit unveiling yesterday. You all know that Pele signed up to be on this but they couldn't find the right goalkeeping outfit which said "O perfeito" (The Perfect One) for him.

Though a lot of anticipation culminated in the final days of January, most European clubs stayed put with their rosters for the remainder of the season, with little to no... Read more »

It's been 7 days since the beginning of the Dragon Year – and here we are 7 points ahead of Barca in the league table. Our 3-1 over Zaragoza and Barca's 0-0 (their first scoreless game in 15 matches) made sure of that. In a league where the margins of error between a league title or a bridesmaid finish is a hairline, 7 points is gold – it gives us that all-important precious margin for error: to account for that somewhat inevitable match that will see us drop points against a Levante, Sporting or.

Awards are for the vain folk that feel the need to be rewarded for greatness. An award, usually a piece of precious metal, is handed to an individual, usually a sentient homo sapiens, based on that individual's contributions to a particular endeavor. Subjectivity underlines the entire process. Humans clasp at the material to the detriment of the abstract.

The fallout from last week's El Clasico loss was astounding. The fallout from the coming El Clasico – should we lose (which is a likely event) will perhaps be equally astounding. . The players are shit – we need to buy 6 new players. We need a new defense We need a new midfield, We need better strikers.

For those of you who missed the Copa Del Rey matches between Barcelona and Real Madrid, you missed some of the best soccer the modern world has to offer. Unfortunately,... Read more »

By Chris Wright

"Shhh!!! Don't look at him. If we're quiet, he may go away"

Despite leading 2-1 from the first-leg and going a further two goals ahead by half-time in the second through Pedro and Dani Alves, Barcelona still found themselves fretting at the Camp Nou as Real Madrid staged a late-ish comeback attempt that saw Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema draw Los Merengues level on the night though it was to be in vain, as Barca eventually held out for the aggregate win that sealed them a berth in the Copa del Rey semi-finals.

A Clasico which lived up to its name? But of course.

And Cristiano was seen off the ball throwing what should now be one of his toddler tantrums? But of course.

It's not one of his finest, in fact it'd have a hard time cracking his top five, but it's nice to know that even as he seems to be maturing, some things will just never change.

Barcelona: Pinto; Dani Alves, Piqué, Puyol y Abidal; Xavi, Busquets e Iniesta, Fabregas; Messi y Alexis Sánchez. DT: Pep Guardiola
Real Madrid: Casillas; Arbeloa, Albiol, Sergio Ramos y Marcelo; Lass, Xabi Alonoso y Coentrao; Özil, Cristiano Ronaldo e Higuaín. DT: José Mourinho
España: 22:00 horas / Argentina - Chile: 18:00 horas
VER EN VIVOOPCION 1OPCION 2 OPCION 3
OPCION 4
ROJA DIRECTA Pese a los golpes que ha recibido por las autoridades estadounidenses continúa operativa y presenta la mejor oferta de links para seguir online cualquier partido de cualquier disciplina.

Domestic cup competitions in Europe typically feature David vs. Goliath stories, but Wednesday, it's all about the big boys.

Liverpool carries its 1-0 edge over Manchester City in the Carling Cup semifinals into the second leg at Anfield, where the Reds will try and hold on and advance to next month's title game against surprise finalist Cardiff City.

Once again there will be certain names talked about at this year's European Championships, with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and the other usual suspects likely to be grabbing the headlines.
However there are some lesser known players who be looking to impress on the big stage and really announce their presence on the international stage.

22.01.2012 - Con goles de Marcelo (´24), Cristiano Ronaldo (´47 + ´67 penales) y Callejón (´86), Real Madrid venció (4-1) al Athletic de Bilbao (Llorente´12) en el Bernabeu por la (postergada) fecha 1 de la Liga española.
Si algo tiene el fútbol de Bielsa es lógica.

Feliz Sabado! If you haven't heard of 'Cuando Messi', you've gotta get with the program right away. Yesterday (for the most part), most of the football fraternity was up in arms over something Pele said :

"When Messi has scored 1,283 goals and won three World Cups, then we will talk.

Abidal fires the winning blast to defeat Real Madrid (Photo: REUTERS/Susana Vera)

Barcelona mounted a second half comeback to defeat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu, extracting a measure of vengeance for their defeat in last year's Copa del Rey Final at the hands of their eternal rivals.

Bienvenida a Friday Crackovia Club! This is where the best football sketch show in Catalonia gets its own personal space simply because you need to be reminded of how brilliant it is. This week, Cristiano Ronaldo gets all emotional at a press conference, where he later breaks into a song (channeling Sade, one of his favourite singers, perhaps?

In a game filled with attacking superstars, it was a pair of gritty defenders that decided the latest edition of El Clasico.

Carles Puyol and Eric Abidal turned around a 1-0 halftime deficit as Barcelona defeated eternal rivals Real Madrid, 2-1, at the Estadio Bernabeu in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey Wednesday.

Barcelona are well placed to reach the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey after they beat old rivals Real Madrid 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Once again Jose Mourinho changed his system playing Barcelona. It seems that Mourinho has one system for Barcelona and one for everyone else in Europe.

18.01.2012 - Real Madrid recibe a Barcelona en el Santiago Bernabeu por los cuartos de final de la Copa del Rey (2012). El partido se inicia a las 22,00 hs (hora de Madrid – GMT+1).En España puede verse en directo a través de los canales CANAL+ 1 y CANAL+ 1 HD. La cadena de Qatar Al Jazeera Sports transmite en directo (sólo para sus abonados) a través de cinco canales: AL JAZEERA SPORTS +2, +4, +9, +10 y el de alta definición HD 2.

Two of Spain's oldest rivals square off today in another Clasico in the Spanish Copa del Rey quarterfinals at Bernabeu. FC Barcelona head coach Pep Guardiola recently crowned FIFA 2011... Read more »

Paul Mariner believes Khano Smith could make an MLS comeback. (Photo by Art Donahue/artdonahue.com)

Former New England Revolution midfielder Khano Smith's MLS career came to a screeching halt in 2010 at just 29-years-old thanks to extremely inconsistent and often frustrating play. Now former Revs assistant coach and current Toronto FC director of player development Paul Mariner believes the ex-pro could make a comeback at left back, according to a report in the Bermuda Gazette.

I will always remember last night's game for Callejon's Celebration: The Canterano showed the world that a man who wears THAT badge never surrenders. Never. I was reading Guillem Balague's pre-match thoughts on last night's game in Sky sports here and this was what he had to say about Mallorca: .

En la foto Ronaldo y su carnal Marcelo.

Este video esta lleno de jugadas espectaculares de Wilfried Zaha, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil, Gael Clichy, Villarreal, Marcelo, Valencia y muchos mas, pura clase.
El gol del Real Madrid es buenisimo y el de Gaizka Toquero simplemente inspiración, y eso que solo llevamos dos semanas en el año.

Barcelona looked like they were headed for a draw before Alexis Sanchez and Messi scored in the span of 10 minutes to hand the Catalans a much needed 4-2 win over Real Betis that reduced their deficit on Leaders Real Madrid to 5 points.

World Player of the year Lionel Messi scored a brace to bring his tally for the season to 19 goals, just 2 short of leading goal scorer Cristiano Ronaldo.

José Callejón scored the winner with six minutes remaining as Real Madrid came back from a goal down to beat Mallorca 2-1 and extend their Liga lead to eight points.

Tomer Hemed's first-half header threatened to send José Mourinho's side to only their second defeat in 24 matches in all competitions until Gonzalo Higuaín equalised with a shot which was helped over goalkeeper Dudu Aouate by the sliding Fernando Tissone.

El equipo ideal del año fue monopolizado por los españoles, que situaron a seis jugadores entre los 11 seleccionados. El llamado "once mundial" quedó compuesto por Iker Casillas en el arco; Dani Alves, Gerard Piqué, Nemanja Vidic y Sergio Ramos en defensa; Andrés Iniesta, Xabi Alonso y Xavi en el centro del campo; Messi, Wayne Rooney y Cristiano Ronaldo en ataque.

Homare Sawa and Lionel Messi won the Women's and Men's Player of the Year awards last night

FIFA's annual awards ceremony took place in Zurich last night and there weren't too many surprises as to who would come top of the main awards of the evening.

It was obvious to all of the world and his dog that Lionel Messi would come to win the Player of the Year award in 2011 following yet another truly successful twelve months with his club FC Barcelona.

It's right here, with Zinedine Zidane and Pele. Image: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images.

Lionel Messi took home the coveted FIFA Ballon d'Or trophy Monday evening, staving off tough competition from Barcelona teammate, Xavi Hernandez, and Real Madrid rival, Cristiano Ronaldo (who was a no-show since his squad is set to do battle with Malaga in the Copa Del Ray today).

SPANISH FOOTBALL was recognized by FIFA yesterday in more ways than one for 2011. Here is the official list of the "IDEAL 11 TEAM" for 2011. FIFA World XI FC BARCELONA has 5 players ( Alves, Pique, Xavi, Iniesta & Messi) with REAL MADRID having 4 players chosen ( Casillas, Ramos, Xabi Alonso & Cristiano Ronaldo).

Iker Casillas
Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Nemanja Vidic, Dani Alves
Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Xabi Alonso
Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi.

"Rooney and Vida In FIFA World XI" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia.

El delantero del FC Barcelona Lionel Messi ha sido coronado en Zúrich como mejor futbolista del planeta por tercer año consecutivo, lo que le sitúa a la altura de los delanteros holandeses Johan Cruyff y Marco Van Basten y del centrocampista francés Michel Platini, los únicos que hasta hoy habían conquistado tres Balones de Oro.

At this point only World Cup success eludes him. But Leo Messi has done enough to earn himself a place in the pantheon of the greats. He was awarded the trophy by O Fenomeno looking none the worse for wear for someone recently recovering from dengue fever.

Messi beat out Cristiano Ronaldo, the Liga's top scorer last season, and his Barca team mate Xavi.

Las clasificaciones siempre van a dar de que hablar, generan polemica, hasta las que hace la FIFA.
Por eso aquí están los 11 mejores jugadores del año según el máximo mandato en el futbol mundial. Fueron anunciados en la gala del dia de hoy.
Los futbolistas del Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso e Iker Casillas, no viajaron a Zúrich porque mañana enfrentan al Málaga por la Copa del Rey.

09.01.2012 - De final anunciado, la celebración y entrega del Premio Balón de Oro (2011) coronó a Lionel Messi como el mejor jugador del mundo (por tercera vez consecutiva).
Con 55 goles en 57 partidos y 5 títulos con Barcelona (Liga de España , Champions League , Mundial de Clubes, Supercopa de España y Supercopa de Europa, el año de Messi volvió a romper récords y felicitaciones.

Lionel Messi was voted World Player of the Year for the third year in a row with Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi a distant second and third respectively. Barcelona's Pep Guardiola won the manager of the year awrd having guided Barcelona to a unique double of La Liga and Champions League titles, Sir Alex ferguson who received an award for services to football was second and Jose Mourinho third in the Manager's list.

FIFA handed tonight the 2011 GOLDEN BALL ( BALON D´OR) AWARD - the Best Player in World Football - to FC BARCELONA player LIONEL MESSI. Its his third straight Golden Ball & puts the 24 year old Argentine in the elite class of 3 x winners like Platini, Van Basten & Cruyff. The second place was given to REAL MADRID player CRISTIANO RONALDO & third to FC BARCELONA player XAVI HERNANDEZ.