Temperatures dropped in Barcelona this week in what is in reality the most positive part of F.C. Barça's participation in the Club World Cup this weekend. A pre-winter break beano to Dubai commences this Wednesday, and how long the team stay in the Arab emirate really depends on how seriously they take the competition.

For all their faults, UEFA got it right last week. Lionel Messi erased any doubt - and there were a record minimal amount of doubters - of the worthiness of his Ballon d'Or award with some clinical finishing against Deportivo La Coruña on Saturday night.

‘Big game bottler’ Zlatan Ibrahimovic came good in the ‘clasico de debutantes’ on Sunday night –a match that ranks amongst the most eagerly anticipated Barça-Madrid clashes in recent memory. An almost unprecedented amount of hype in the English press greeted the capital’s finest as they made the trip to the Camp Nou, although the star names were always destined to have bit-part cameos.