Brilliant Barca Overshadow Red-Faced Real

For those who thought Cesc Fabregas would be little more than an expensive addition to the Barcelona bench; how wrong you have been proved.

The ex-Arsenal captain has taken to life at the Nou Camp as if he had never spent all those years in north London. To date, Fabregas has scored four goals in Blaugrana colours in addition to a number of assists and looks to have already established a telepathic relationship with the creative heart of Pep Guardiola's team.

The Catalans' 8-0 thumping of Osasuna at the weekend was a near-perfect exhibition of football with Fabregas and Lionel Messi at the centre of everything good about Barca. Arguably, Fabregas rubber-stamped his intentions to be an integral part of the European champions' first XI when many pundits had questioned his signing and potential role in what can already be considered as one of the best teams to ever play the beautiful game.

It seems as if Guardiola's charges are hungry enough and capable enough of soaring higher than the magnificent achievements of last year. Fabregas it seems, may be a huge part of the plan. While Xavi may be considered as one of the best midfielders in the world, the former Arsenal man may be the perfect 'plan-B' if Xavi is off-form or if Barcelona wish to change the tempo or direction of a game.

While times appear to be getting better in Catalunya, Mourinho's Real Madrid suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Levante on Sunday evening. Real president Florentino Perez must be feeling slightly irked by the constant brilliance of his side's biggest rivals while his Los Blancos were left floundering on the east coast. Wednesday sees Real travel to second-bottom Racing Santander and while the game is hardly a must-win tie, one suspects that anything other than three points would be most unsatisfactory.

Spain Seal Euros Spot

After earning a call-up to the Spain squad, Alvaro Negredo of Sevilla made the most of a rare start by bagging a brace of goals shortly before half time to set the home side on their way in Logronos as the Spanish national side booked their trip to Poland and Ukraine in 2012 with a comfortable 6-0 win over lowly Lichtenstein.

Having almost shocked Scotland at Hampden Park earlier on in the campaign, the minnows gave the reigning World and European champions a nervy half-hour before Negredo broke the deadlock. Playing in the northern region of Rioja, you could have forgiven the natives for expecting goals to flow like the wine they are so famous for. Eventually they got what they had wished for: All-time leading goalscorer David Villa edged closer to his 50th goal in Spain colours as he completed the rout with a brace of his own following goals from Sergio Ramos and a Xavi Hernandez free-kick.

This was the sixth win in sixth qualifying games and also included a debut for Barcelona's Thiago Alcantara while Xavi became Spain's most capped outfield player winning his 103rd cap on what appeared to be a perfectly pre-planned night of football. Yet, the most striking aspect of the performance was Del Bosque's almost seamless team selection and substitutions. Negredo is a perfect example of La Roja's astonishing and rich strength in depth: picked on form, the striker did not disappoint. Fellow forwards Pedro and Fernando Llorente were left to warm the bench when arguably either could have started in place of the Sevilla frontman.

Premier League newcomer Juan Mata was also included among the starting 11 while Manchester City's David Silva, after his sparkling start to the new English top-flight campaign had to be content in his role as an unused substitute. Credit must go to the manager for picking a fairly strong side: While many would argue that even a Spanish second string 11 could outplay any nation in Europe, it is refreshing to see an approach from the coaching staff that oozed professionalism and an urge to simply get the job done.

With the greatest of expectation Vincente Del Bosque's side will now head to Eastern Europe in a bid to defend their crown and become the first team ever to win consecutive European Championships. On current form and with such a star-studded pool of players to choose from, bookmakers may already be preparing to pay out on Spain to lift the trophy in Kiev in a little over 10 months' time.

(Picture taken from www.bbc.co.uk/sport)