NO MESSI, NO PROBLEM FOR BARCELONA

No Messi, no problem. Messi presented his Golden Shoe to the Camp Nou crowd and then
watched on from the stands as Barcelona beat Granada with some ease in a rare afternoon kick-off in the Catalan capital.

Andres Iniesta's first-ever penalty for Barca opened the scoring, before Cesc Fabregas made it 2-0 from the spot. Alexis Sanchez and Pedro then netted a goal apiece late in the game after Manuel Iturra had been sent off for a second bookable offence.

It wasn't classic Barca, but it didn't really matter: the Blaugrana stay three points clear at the top of the table and remain unbeaten under Gerardo Martino.

"I think the fans are enjoying themselves a lot more than you say," Martino told reporters.

And those fans were treated to a glimpse of the future as 17-year-old Adama Traore made his debut with a lively cameo in attack and Sergi Roberto also came on for a rare appearance in midfield.

Time to rest Ronaldo? Madrid must take heed of Barcelona's Messi problems

The Portuguese looked in some discomfort as he was withdrawn through injury at Almeria and, while it may have been just a precaution, Real must take care of their in-form forward

Rummenigge: €250m for Messi is absurd

The Bayern supremo has insisted that they have no plans to make a move for the prolific attacker and believes Barca would never sell their star player

Raging Rooney slams Souness criticism

The Manchester United striker kicked out at Jordan Mutch during Sunday's 2-2 draw with Cardiff, and the Sky Sports pundit was vocal in his opinion that a booking was not sufficient

Doing the double | Basel brushed aside Chelsea for the second time this season

Bore draw | Steaua Bucharest and Schalke couldn't be separated in a 0-0 stalemate

Rafa the rapper, Kaka drives Celtic gaga & Ajax ruin Barca run - Champions League in pictures

Plenty of visual feasting was to be had as the top teams in Europe fought on Tuesday, with giants such as Chelsea and Napoli falling across the continent

Salah steamtrain | The Basel winger, who scored the winner, whizzes past Chelsea's Petr Cech

Gaga for Kaka | The midfielder kicked off a top night for AC Milan, as they beat Celtic 3-0

Xavi: I hope defeat won't affect us too badly

Barcelona star Xavi says he hopes the Champions league defeat to Ajax will not negatively affect his side as they approach a crucial phase of the season.

Gerardo Martino’s men lost 2-1 in Amsterdam despite playing against 10 men for most of the second half following Joel Veltman's dismissal. Xavi himself netted a second-half penalty.

The defeat meant Martino missed out on the chance to match Pep Guardiola’s record of 21 games unbeaten and the 33-year-old midfielder hopes it does not hugely damage their campaign.

Xavi told reporters: “We hope the defeat does not affect us too badly – it is the first defeat so let’s hope it will not have too bad an effect.

“We have got a home game ahead of us against Celtic and we still have a great chance to finish top of the group.”

The Spain international admits falling two goals behind against Ajax simply left his team with too much to do as they tried to get back into the game after the break.

“We were missing intensity and unable to play our game,” said Xavi.

“Ajax’s high-pressure pressing high up the pitch just didn’t give us the chance to bring the ball out under control. They were more intense than us and although we tried to turn it round in the second half, the 2-0 score was just too much and we couldn’t do it.

“We had a bad game – especially in the first half. Teams don’t forgive you in the Champions League and you could see that. It is very hard to get an away win in Europe or in the league.”