Europe

Turkish football supporters are unwavering. They’re unwavering in their delight at waving “Welcome to Hell!” signs at opposition teams when arriving in Turkey, at lighting enough flares and creating enough noise to actually make their home stadia seem like hell and in their support of their beloved clubs. Istanbul’s Besiktas are 14-time champions of the Turkish top-flight, but they’ve never advanced from the group stage of the Champions League.

Benfica needed either a win against Napoli or a Besiktas loss to Dynamo Kiev Tuesday to advance to the Champions League knockout stage. They lost, 2-1, but Besiktas lost even worse (6-0).

The Portuguese side's lone goal was scored by Mexican international striker Raul Jimenez, who showcased just about the best-case scenario for the high press with his tackle and goal.

We’re one final match day away from wrapping up the Champions League group stage, but we can already draw a number of conclusions based on Tuesday’s play. For one, whoever draws group runners-up Bayern Munich in the round of 16 has every reason to feel extremely aggrieved.

By virtue of finishing behind Atletico, Bayern could conceivably be drawn against the likes of Barcelona, Arsenal, Juventus, Leicester City or Borussia Dortmund/Real Madrid (the battle between Dortmund and Madrid in Group F will be settled tomorrow).

It was only two weeks ago when we were treated to one of the most astounding open goal misses in the history of football over in Serbia. The gift of giving to helpless defenses seems to be in the air this holiday season as a Greek fourth division match has offered up its own tragic epic. 

Given the way in which David Luiz was tackled by Sergio Aguero at the weekend and considering the short fuse on Luiz himself, many people were expecting an angry reaction from the Brazilian. As it turns out, that couldn't have been further from the truth.

The Derby della Capitale was drenched in narrative. In a sporting context, the word narrative might well be overused to the point of meaninglessness, but there’s not many other ways in which to focus on the 90-minute battle between Lazio and Roma that took place on Sunday.

In purely sporting terms, it was a fascinating game. Roma, second in the league and easily fulfilling their role as perpetual also-rans, came up against arch-rivals Lazio, who were themselves only a point behind. 

The rejuvenated heroics of Mario Balotelli saw the Italian striker score six goals in his first six Ligue 1 matches for Nice, propelling the club to the top of the table over the likes of Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain. 

Saturday’s El Clasico was by no means a classic. However, as is always the case in a match which puts the world at a standstill for 90 minutes, there was no shortage of drama, intrigue and passion. No one spectator better embodied the competitive tension that reverberated around the Camp Nou than Gerard Pique’s partner Shakira.

With Lionel Messi and Neymar both guilty of wasting good chances for Barca, it was Luis Suarez who opened the scoring in the 53rd minute. 

It simply doesn’t get any more embarrassing or unprofessional than this. Trailing Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 in the English Championship on Saturday, Preston had both their strikers sent off in the final minutes after nearly coming to blows and being separated by teammates.

Eoin Doyle had halved the Preston deficit in the 82nd minute, but he and strike partner Jermaine Beckford were subsequently shown straight reds for violent conduct in the 90th minute. 

Barcelona and Madrid played the biggest game of the season so far, and both fan bases ended up disappointed after a 1-1 draw.

El Clasico looked to be going the way of Barcelona after Luis Suarez's header put the Blaugrana in front 1-0.