The big story: “BBC” vs “MSN”

Real Madrid and Barcelona battle it out at the Camp Nou for the first El Clasico of the season. Zinedine Zidane’s side have a six-point lead after 13 games and they are the reigning European champions who have a slight edge going into the game.

The pressure is on the Lionel Messi-Luis Suarez-Neymar axis, who have misfired so far, to come good in the game. Madrid’s “BBC”, which includes Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema have been the pace-setters.

Other top stories:

  1. English Premier League heavyweights Manchester City and Chelsea lock horns at the Etihad. Antonio Conte’s side are at the top of the table, closely followed by Pep Guardiola’s City.
  2. Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil has not ruled out a move back to Santiago Bernabeau. Talking about the forthcoming years, the 28-year-old German said, “In football, you never know....we will see what happens in the future”. Ozil also hailed Real Madrid coach Zidane, calling him his idol.
  3. Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho conceded that a 11-point gap between his side and the top of the table might be too much to cope with at this stage, and also lamented that his team has not got the goals his team “deserves”, in the league.
  4. Liverpool are eager to sell out-of-favour defender Mamadou Sakho in the winter transfer window, reported The Guardian. The Reds manager Jurgen Klopp confirmed that the Frenchman is not a part of his first-team plans at the moment.
  5. Bayern Munich dislodged RB Leipzig to get back to the top of the German Bundesliga table after a Robert Lewandowski double helped them to a 3-1 win against Mainz away from home.
  6. In the wake of the astonishing number of former players who have come out and opened the lid on sexual abuse, Premier League giants Chelsea find themselves in hot water after former player Gary Johnson revealed that he was paid £50,000 by the club to “keep a lid on the subject”. Johnson, who was a youth player for the Blues, alleged that he was sexually abused by then chief scout Eddie Heath.
  7. In a pilot experiment, German clubs in the DFB Pokal will be allowed to make a fourth substitution in extra time.
  8. French forward Antoine Griezmann, along with Messi and Ronaldo have been voted for the three-man shortlist for the Ballon d’Or. The Portuguese has been sounded out as a strong favourite to win the honour for a fourth time after winning the European Championships for his country and the UEFA Champions League against Real Madrid.
  9. In the Indian Super League, Atletico de Kolkata and FC Pune City played out a 0-0 draw in their final round-robin game. ATK are currently third in the table but will move down to fourth if Kerala Blasters or NorthEast United win their final group game.
  10. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi will host the final of the 2016 edition of the Indian Super League.