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Barcelona thrashed 10-man Real Madrid 3-0 in El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday to give their title hopes a huge boost and deal a hammer blow to Los Blancos' chances of retaining La Liga. Luis Suarez finished off a slick move to give Barca the lead early in the second half before Dani Carvajal was given his marching orders for a deliberate handball in the box barely 10 minutes later. Messi fired home the ensuing penalty to give the visitors a two-goal cushion. Despite the introduction of attacking reinforcements for Real, the Catalan giants added another through Aleix Vidal in stoppage time to add gloss to a remarkable victory. Ernesto Valverde's Barca now leads La Liga by nine points to second-placed Atletico Madrid and have a 14-point advantage over Zinedine Zidane's Los Blancos. Cristiano Ronaldo had the ball in the back of the net after just two minutes, but the effort was rightly ruled out for offside after Casemiro's flick-on fro...

The first knockout round of the 2017-18 Champions League has been drawn, with five Premier League clubs featuring for the first time. Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City have all learned their fates, as have holders Real Madrid. Here Squiblink examines the draw, and we give our verdict on who will be making it through to the quarter-finals. Juventus vs Tottenham Hotspurs Last year's finalists Juventus, without Leonardo Bonucci at the back, have not been as impressive this time around, although they recovered from the opening loss to Barcelona to navigate a tricky Group D ahead of Sporting Lisbon and Olympiacos. The best in Europe. From arguably the Group of Death, Spurs emerged with 16 points - the most of any team - and their reputation on the continent significantly enhanced. The results against Real - a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu and a 3-0 victory at home - were the standouts. Spurs will fancy their chances if th...

When Barcelona meet Real Madrid the biggest subplot is the battle of Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo was the world’s most expensive player when Real signed him for $131 million in the summer of 2009. Prior to that, he had been signed by Manchester United from Sporting Lisbon as an 18-year-old. They are two of the highest paid soccer players in the world game. Messi has a release clause of $700 million and his rise to the top could not contrast more starkly to that of Ronaldo. The Argentinean left Newell’s Old Boys for Barcelona at the age of 13, with the club paying for treatment on a growth hormone deficiency that threatened to stunt his progress. In 2012, he became the club's record goalscorer at the age of just 24. Each player has won almost every individual and team award possible in the footballing world. When asked about his comparison with Messi, Ronaldo says it is like comparing a "Ferrari with a Porsche", but who is the best? 1. MESSI...