As expected France Football has announced that this year's Ballon d'Or winner is Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo who earned 446 voting points from the 96 judges. Barça's Leo Messi was runner-up with 281 points while Xavi Hernandez was fifth with 97 points and Samuel Eto'o was seventeenth. Cristiano Ronaldo was always the most likely winner having scored 42 goals in the 2007/2008 season and won the Premiership and the Champions League with Manchester United. Ronaldo can now proudly boast that he is the world's best player. It must be because Messi is from another planet!

The top 20 was as follows:

.1. Cristiano Ronaldo...

Not really much surprise here. Despite some excellent performances from his team mates in November, Leo Messi who won the award in October is once again my player of the month. Messi played in 7 games this month, and the only one of those games that he didn't score in was possibly his best game of the month: the 6-0 victory over Valladolid. Toure Yaya comes in second and it is great to see the big man back in such excellent form after a slow start to the season. Captain Carles Puyol is third, he has excelled in every defensive position this month but he was especially impressive in the swimming...

The draw for the Copa del Rey was made today and Barça have been given a difficult task of playing Atletico Madrid in the last 16. The first game will take place at the Vicente Calderon stadium on January 7th with the return game at Camp Nou on January 14th. The last game between the two clubs ended in a 6-1 home victory for Barça at the start of October.

The draw was also made for the quarter finals and the semi finals. If Barça beat Atletico there is a big chance of a derby match against Espanyol in the quarter finals as Barça will face the winner of Espanyol - Poli Ejido, the first game would be away on January 21st with the return at Camp Nou on 28th January. In a possible semi final we would play whoever...

Barça continued their incredible winning streak away from home with a 0-3 win at the Sanchez Pizjuan that put Barça six points clear at the top of the table tonight with Villarreal and Valencia playing tomorrow. The scoreline suggests an easy win and in the end it was, but Sevilla had the edge in the first half and Barça needed a bit of luck to go in at half time in front through Samuel Eto'o's goal. The second half was totally controlled by Barça and two late goals from Leo Messi sealed the victory.

The defences were generally on top early on with the first real chance falling to Luis Fabiano in the tenth minute but he volleyed over....

According to El Sport Xavi Hernandez has agreed a deal to stay at Barça until 2014. Negotiations have been going on for a while now but according to the report Joan Laporta met Xavi and his agent on Friday afternoon and the deal was struck. Xavi will become the fourth highest earner after Messi, Henry and Eto'o, and with bonuses could earn in the region of €7.5M a season. The report has still not been confirmed by the club but according to El Sport they are waiting for Txiki Begiristain to get back from Japan where he is visiting his sick brother. Xavi has been one of our most consistent players this season and I'd like to say he deserves it: but of course nobody deserves that much money just for chasing a ball around...

Carles Puyol and Toure Yaya return to the squad for tomorrow's heavyweight game against Sevilla (kick off 10pm) as Barça enter the terrific run up to Christmas with league games to follow against Valencia, Real Madrid and Villarreal. The players will train in Barcelona tomorrow morning before catching a 12.00 flight to Seville. Barça will be looking to reach their tenth consecutive away win but Sevilla are the hardest challenge so far.

Sevilla began the season strongly and were unbeaten in all competitions until a run of four consecutive defeats which has since been followed by three wins and a draw going into tommorrow's game. In La Liga they are currently fifth on 24 points, five points behind Barça, so a win would...

Sorry, I'm a bit late on this one. But for those of you who don't already know next weekend's league game with Valencia at Camp Nou has been set for Saturday 6th December with a kick off time of 10pm local time. Last season's league game ended in a 6-0 victory for Barça. With this year's team would should at least double that!

Barça got the season back on track tonight with a 2-5 win in Lisbon earning first place in Group C which means an easier draw in the last 16.  Since losing to Numancia at the end of August Barça have now clocked up 9 away wins on the trot, five in La Liga, three in the Champions league and one in the Copa del Rey. Leo Messi returned to the team and talk about Messi dependence will no doubt continue as he played a part in the first two goals and scored the third shortly before being substituted. With Messi off the pitch Barça conceded two goals in two minutes to put Sporting back in the game, but Barça reacted well with two more goals to seal the win.

Pep Guardiola made six changes to...

Barça arrived in Lisbon today with 18 players including Leo Messi ready to fight for the win that will guarantee us top spot in Group C of this season's Champions League. Rafa Marquez also returns but there is no place for either Carles Puyol or Toure Yaya who Pep Guardiola has decided to give a rest. Barça lead the group on 10 points with Sporting just a point behind, both teams have already qualified for the last 16, but tomorrow's game could well determine which of the two finishes top. Three points will earn us first place while a draw will leave us needing a victory in the last group match at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on December 9th, if we lose, however, we will have to hope that Basle do us...

There has been a lot of talk today about the form of Bojan Krkic especially after his disappointing performance yesterday against Getafe. It is a lot of pressure for a lad who has only just turned 18 and it seems that it precisely that pressure which is affecting his game. There is no doubt about his talent, a player who scores over 800 goals in seven seasons in Barça's lower categories can be no mug, and last season we saw plenty of signs of his growing ability as he scored ten league goals for Barça's first team under Frank Rijkaard.

This season, however, he seems to be suffering from the pressure and the confidence is beginning to wane. Bojan comes from a...