It certainly wasn't great stuff to watch with foul after foul from Athletico, the result was a defeat for football. And was probably the worst referring display that I have seen since David Elleray retired.

Old Trafford was a nice ground, which Lords and The Oval aside had the nicest pavilion in the country. However they have ruined a beautiful pavilion with the work that they did on it and the ground as a whole now is an eyesore after they put up not one but two of those Point buildings. Old Trafford and Headingly are two examples of how not to refurbish a ground a ground whereas the SWALEC and Edgbaston are examples of how to refurbish a ground. It's irrelevant where the ground's are situated the best 5 grounds in the country should host an Ashes series and that will be the case next year.

It's a shame that the Riverside does not have a test as it is a nice ground, but Old Trafford and Headingly are both dumps since they have been re-developed. The five grounds that have been picked are the best 5 test match grounds in the country, with Durham probably 6th. Also The Riverside and Old Trafford both had Ashes test last time, whereas the SWALEC and Edgbaston did not and Yorkshire cannot afford to bid for an Ashes test.

The last episode was much better on Sky as they only had one lot of adverts on half way through the episode. Before this week the amount of adverts was ridiculous.

Terrible news, its un believable really to think that this time last year he was leading Barca to the league title and now he has gone.

It gets better with each episode and Mads Mikkelsen is brilliant as Hannibal, much more like I imagined him when I read the books unlike Anthony Hopkins. Just finish true detective which I really enjoyed it will be interesting to see what the next season is like with different characters and storyline, they have a lot to beat. I also enjoy game of thrones although not as much as some people I know but that's probably because I have read the books. Then of course last night Mad Men was back showing why it is the greatest TV show of all time the writing by Matthew Weiner is just fantastic, if last night episode was anything to go by then this final series could be the best yet.

That was the main error he made and the ball was clearly went between them but as well as that he gave St Helens every decision throughout the match.

What an absolute disgrace Phil Bentham is. The only word for that referring is cheating but he always has been a cheat towards St Helens.

That hasn't always been the case though Barca are reaping the rewards of the youth system that they and the great Johan Cruyff invested heavily in during the early 1990's. Madrid however rather than giving youngsters a chance go down the Galacticos route and spent ridiculous sums of money on the likes of Bale, Ronaldo and many more over the years. Last night Barca used 13 players last night 9 were from the youth set up, Madrid used 14 players only two from the youth system. Last night was undoubtedly victory for football. As for an early post of yours saying the Camp Nou had no atmosphere I've to Clasico's, big European matches and just standard league games there and of all the sporting venues I have gone to in over 50 years of watching sport it is by far the best atmosphere that I have been in, it is the coliseum of football.

Guardiola is been a pioneer of the game like Sebes, Michels and Cruyff before him. Third in the league but a point of top and they have beaten the side in 2nd twice this season, they are also in the European Cup Quarters and the Copa final not bad really is it. As for the Munich defeat there were a lot of problems of the field what with The managers illness clearly had a huge effect on the team, Messi was not fully fit and Rossell creating problems in the board room. They are much more stable now with Rossell gone and it would be a mistake to sack Martino. As for me being a Barca apologist. If you mean by that do I like Barca yes I do they are a model football club in my opinion (stained slightly of late by Rossell but that will come out in the wash) in how they conduct themselves as a club on and off the field. I also like Barca because during the Franco years they were a symbol of anti-fascism and hope for the Catalonian people and indeed all the repressed people of Spain, the Camp Nou was one of the few places where Catalonian could be spoken. As for Ronaldo being an overrated show pony I think he is and Real are fascists there ground is named after a fascist and Franco had his corrupt paws all over them, putting large amounts of state reserves into them. The Franco government threatened Barca players and their families if they didn't lose to Madrid in a cup semi final, refs were also threatened to let Madrid win. And Josep Sunyol who was Barca President at the time was arrested and executed by Franco troops. So the reason I call Real fascists is because they are.

Messi's goals to game ratio is less because he has been playing at Barca since he was a youngster Ronaldo started in La Liga at his peak. Ronaldo has always been the main man whereas early in his career Messi played out wide and wasn't the main man as Eto'o Ronaldinho and then when he left Henry were at Barca. Also Ronaldo has 172 goals in 160 La Liga games and in that time Messi has scored 182 in 159 which is 'significantly stronger' The Ballon d'Or was a fix this year for Ronaldo he had a good November when votes were being done and he scored3 against Sweden with a defence made up of centre backs from Celtic and West Brom and then voting was extended after that game. He scored34 goals and 6 of them were penalties last year his worst return in 3 seasons . He did nothing as always in a big European game, when he was really needed in the second leg of the Champions League semi final against Dortmund he was anonymous. He lost the Copa final on his home ground and got sent off. And in World Cup qualifying he played in an easy group which they couldn't win and he only scored in two games against Azerbaijan and Northern Ireland. And Messi still has double the number of Ballon d'Or's. As for saying he plays in an inferior team to Messi well just think why are the fascists inferior to Barca well that answer is simple Lionel Messi. There is not a lot between the two teams man for man apart from Messi he is just a class above anything else in world football and come the end of his career he may well be the greatest of all time.

Both blatant penalties Neymar was through and would have scored had Ramos not have tripped him, and Alonso was rash he came running over and kicked Iniesta. The fascists penalty wasn't a penalty it was outside but the show pony chucked himself well forward to end up in the area. They may not be as good as they were under Guardiola, but they are still the best team in world football, on for a quadruple this season and have the best two players in the world in Messi and Iniesta.

What a fantastic match El Clasico was and the perfect result with the fascists losing and Messi showing the overrated show pony who's the best in the world.

Antonio Puerta only 22 at the time and a really good talent. I'll never forget watching that game on the TV, first you had the relief when he got up of thinking he was OK as he then walked of and the game carried on, then later I heard he was in intensive care and then terrible news that he died a few day later.

It's a decent Aussie team but nothing more sadly test cricket is in a poor state at the moment on and off the field. As for Clarke he's a good captain I've always said that but in the last test his captaincy was poor why he batted on so long was baffling and it nearly cost his team a game that they should have won easy.