BARCELONA -- Three quick thoughts on the 1-1 Champions League draw between Barcelona and Tottenham on Tuesday at the Camp Nou.

1. Spurs sneak into Champions League knockout rounds

Tottenham Hotspur remain in the Champions League by the skin of their teeth after Lucas Moura's 85th-minute goal cancelled out Ousmane Dembele's fine individual effort as they came from behind to draw with Barcelona and reach the round of 16.

Mauricio Pochettino's side only had to match Inter Milan's result to progress,...

Europe's biggest clubs continue to work behind the scenes as the winter transfer window approaches. Transfer Talk has been scouring the world's media to see who could be heading to your club when Jan. 1 arrives.

TOP STORY: Barca desperate to land Kane in £200m deal

It is said that timing is everything,and that phrase springs to mind when reading The Daily Star's report that Barcelona are desperate to land Tottenham's Harry Kane -- with the two sides set to meet in the Champions League this...

Chelsea stunning Manchester City and Liverpool thrashing Bournemouth to go top have made the Premier League title race exciting again. In Spain, Lionel Messi eviscerated Espanyol with a display of supreme skill, while in Italy, Juventus continued their remorseless march to an eighth straight scudetto with a 1-0 win over Inter. Here are the best numbers from an action-packed weekend of football.

15

Here's a ridiculous Messi stat: Messi has more free-kick goals over the last four La Liga seasons (15)...

BARCELONA -- A Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona produced one of their best performances of the season to beat Espanyol 4-0 in the Catalan derby and move three points clear at the top of La Liga.

Messi scored two stunning free kicks, opening and closing the scoring, to take his season goal tally to 17 in all competitions as Barca. He also set up Ousmane Dembele for Barca's second; Luis Suarez completed the scoring on his return from injury.

Positives

Some of the attacking play in the first half --...

The top three stay the same this week, but there's movement down below. Liverpool make their return to the top 10, as do Arsenal.

Dropping out: Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham, Sevilla.

Agree? Disagree? Let us know, and watch Shaka defend his picks on ESPN FC TV.

For the first time in a decade, the Ballon d'Or was not won by either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, the twin giants of the modern footballing epoch.

While Ronaldo finished runner-up, Messi was not even included in the final three for the first time since 2006 and neither player -- nor fellow global icon Neymar -- was in attendance in Paris to see Luka Modric being bestowed with the prestigious award at the ever-gaudy gala evening.

But what were they up to instead?

Lionel Messi

Roughly...