Argentina’s Lionel Messi wins Fifa Ballon d’Or award

Barcelona star Lionel Messi has been named the FIFA Men’s World Player of the Year for 2010.Messi was on a three-man shortlist with Barca team-mates Xavi and Andres Iniesta but, despite Spain’s World Cup triumph, the Argentina forward came out on top in the voting.He becomes the first winner of the FIFA Ballon d’Or, which merges France Football magazine’s European Footballer of the Year prize with the FIFA World Player of the Year. The awards were based on the votes of the coaches and captains of national sides as well as global journalists.

Manchester City 4 – 0 Aston Villa: Super Mario sends City top

Mario Balotelli hit the headlines for all the right reasons as his first Manchester City hat-trick helped the Blues to a 4-0 win against Aston Villa and top spot in the Premier League.With Carlos Tevez rested, the 20-year-old strode confidently onto centre-stage, exhibiting audacious self-belief to score two penalties, either side of a three-yard tap-in which took his City tally to an impressive eight goals in 11 appearances.

Real Madrid 4 – 0 AJ Auxerre :Benzema bags hat-trick

France international Karim Benzema struck a hat-trick as Real Madrid helped send Auxerre tumbling out of Europe with their fifth win in six games in Champions League Group G.Benzema, who has struggled for goals since joining Madrid in a big-money move from Lyon in the summer of 2009, netted in the 11th, 72nd and 88th minutes while in-form Cristiano Ronaldo was also on the scoresheet at the Bernabeu.

Barcelona 5 – 0 Real Madrid: Exquisite Barca crush Real

A second-half brace from David Villa led Barcelona to an incredible 5-0 rout of Real Madrid in El Clasico and saw the Catalans leapfrog their fierce rivals – who lost for the first time under Jose Mourinho – at the top of the Primera Division.

Manchester United 7 – 1 Blackburn Rovers

Dimitar Berbatov joined an elite group of Premier League sharpshooters with a five-star performance as Manchester United demolished Blackburn 7-1 at Old Trafford.Since the new league was formed in 1992, only Andy Cole, Alan Shearer and Jermain Defoe have scored five in a single game.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 – 2 Arsenal

Two-goal Marouane Chamakh got Arsenal back on the winning trail with a 2-0 success against gallant Wolves at Molineux.Chamakh struck after only 39 seconds when he headed in a cross from Alex Song and wrapped up victory in injury-time.It was the perfect riposte after their shock home reversal against Newcastle and kept Mick McCarthy’s side in the bottom three.The Gunners threatened to run away with the game in the early stages with their one touch football.