Another El Clasico looms in the horizon as Real Madrid and Barcelona gear up to face each other in the second leg of the Copa Del Rey Quarter-finals at the Nou Camp on Wednesday night. The task is an uphill one for Mourinho’s men, who lost the first leg despite getting an early lead, with Carles Puyol and Eric Abidal cancelling out Cristiano Ronaldo’s opener. Madrid in fact lost even their last league encounter against the Catalans, with Barcelona running out 3-1 winners at the Bernabeu last month, with Alexis Sanchez, Xavi and Cesc Fabregas ensuring the victory after the visitors had been pegged back by Karim Benzema after just one minute.

Madrid have been in turmoil since losing the 1st leg, with the fans and media getting on the back of Jose Mourinho for his negative tactics while there have also been reports of clashes between the manager and his players. Both sides sealed 4-1 victories over the weekend, with Barca's win coming away to Malaga while Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao at home.

The words 'Groundhog Day' would have appropriately filled the air around the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night as Barcelona inflicted further pain on Real Madrid. The 1st leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals began brightly for the home side as Cristiano Ronaldo silenced his critics with a clinically taken goal in the 11th minute.

But it was the Catalan show after that as the Pep Guardiola's men slowly but eventually broke-down a defensive Madrid side. Carles Puyo levelled proceedings from a corner on 49 minutes before Eric Abidal got the winner in the 77th minute. A one goal lead isn't comprehensive going into the 2nd leg, but Barca will be more than confident of protecting it at the Nou Camp in a week's time.

The football world will once again be transfixed by the clash of Real Madrid and Barcelona on Wednesday night as the Copa del Rey quarter-final provides the backdrop for El Clasico. The two sides have already met thrice this season, with the Catalans coming out on top in both the Spanish Super Cup and La Liga encounters. But despite those two setbacks, Madrid hold a five-point lead over their fierce rivals in La Liga and are now favourites to capture the title after a gap of four years.

Pep Guardiola's side have generally come out on top in these fixtures though, losing only one of the last twelve head-to-heads. Coincidentally that sole defeat came in last season's Copa del Rey final when Cristiano Ronaldo's extra time goal gave Jose Mourinho's men their first Copa del Rey trophy since 1993.

All eyes were on the San Siro on Sunday night as AC Milan and Inter clashed in the Milan derby. Inter edged out their fierce rivals 1-0 thanks to a 2nd half goal from Diego Milito and are now just five points behind AC Milan, who are a point-off Juventus at the top. In what was a bad day for the top three in Serie A, Juventus drew 1-1 against Cagliari while Udinese suffered a surprise 3-2 defeat against Genoa. Over in Spain, Barcelona edged past Real Betis 4-2 at the Camp Nou to stay in touch with Real Madrid at the top.

Italian Serie A:

AC Milan 0-1 Inter Milan

The Rossoneri dominated possession in the 1st half, but struggled to translate that into meaningful chances. Inter actually put the ball in the back of the net within five minutes through Thiago Motta, but the goal was incorrectly disallowed for offside. Alexander Pato and Ricardo Alvarez fluffed their lines for both sides respectively before Esteban Cambiasso struck the woodwork with a fierce shot towards the end of the half. Nine minutes into the 2nd half, Milito took advantage of Ignacio Abate's mistake to advance into the box and fired a shot past Christian Abbiati. AC Milan huffed and puffed in search of an equalizer that never materialized. Milan slip to 2nd place while Inter are just a point off 4th paced Lazio.

Barcelona's reign over football extended from the European realm to the rest of the world after they brushed aside Santos at the World Club Cup final in Yokohama. The game that was billed as tiki-taka vs jogo bonito, Messi vs Neymar ended up as an extremely one-sided affair as Barcelona overwhelmed their South American counterparts. The game was sealed in the first half as Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Cesc Fabregas found the back of the net to leave Barca 3-0 up before the break. Messi added a fourth late on to complete the rout as Barca claimed their 2nd World Club title.

Muricy Ramalho made just one change to the side that beat Kashiwa Reysol 3-1 in the semi-finals, with Leo coming in at left-back as former Manchester City midfielder Elano dropped to the bench. The deadly duo of Borges and Neymar formed the attacking pair up front. The midfield had Arouca and Henrique sitting in the centre while Paul Henrique Ganso and Danilo attacked from the wide positions. Bruno Rodrigo and Leo were given the responsibility of marshalling the wide areas while Edu Dracena and Druval covered central defence.

The draw for the Europa League's Round of 32 was held in Nyon earlier today, and it threw up numerous exciting clashes, with all the English clubs being handed tough opponents. The biggest names in the draw were undoubtedly Manchester United and Manchester City, both of whom dropped into the Europa League folliwng disastrous Champions League campaigns.

Premier League leaders Manchester City will face-off against defending champions FC Porto, who also come into the competition after finishing 3rd in their Champions League group. Neighbours Manchester United, meanwhile, have been handed a match against Dutch giants Ajax. Ajax and United have a combined total of seven European Cup's between them, but that will count for nought as they fight to extend their European campaign. However, the third English side Stoke City, have perhaps been handed the toughest of the draws, with Valencia being their opponents. Tony Pulis’ men will certainly go into this one as underdogs, although their physical style of play may just overwhelm their Spanish opponents.