El Clasico - Messi Vs Renaldo

I have been covering the English Premier League (EPL) for some time now with an apparent bias towards the Spanish equivalent "La Liga".  There comes a point however where we have to leave everything we are doing, scrap all plans and tune in to our "televisión Española", or find a LIVE STREAM to watch La Liga. All eyes are on Spain today and its Real Madrid FC versus FC Barcelona.

This is a match between the two richest and most successful clubs in world football, representing Spain's two largest cities, Madrid and Barcelona.  Real Madrid this time will play host to FC Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu in the Spanish Capital. There is of course a political history which we will not get into here, save for the arguments that Barcelona is thought to be associated with Catalan Nationalism whereas Real Madrid is linked to Spanish Nationalism.  This explains why FC Barcelona is often referred to as the Catalans. Catalonia is an autonomous community in the northeast of  Spain bordering France and the Mediterranean sea. For a complete reading on Spain and its autonomous communities visit Española

In La Liga this meeting happens twice per year/season and from my recolection it has never disappointed.  In Spain they call it "El Clasisco" and believe it or not it is called "El Clasico in any other country, region or language.  It is a household name that goes back to over a century ago when they first met on 13 May 1902.  Since then they have met in the league 162 times with the following statistics:

Manchester City walks alone, Liverpool hopes to join

The biggest story in the football world today is that Real Madrid is now enjoying a strong 6pts lead at the top of La Liga in Spain. This after defending champions and currently second place Barcelona lost in the late game last night at Getafe.  Today we see the noisy neighbors Manchester City hoping to better that statistic in the English Premier League (EPL).

The opponents come in the form of Liverpool FC and the lead they will enjoy if they were to win is 7pts over defending champions Man utd. Both United and Arsenal dropped points yesterday as Chelsea turned their fortunes around.  What will today bring for the noisy neighbors of Manchester?