Ronaldinho One Goal From Madrid Record

To date Ronaldinho has bagged three goals at the Santiago Bernabéu; a goal per game on average. The first dates back two years ago to the 2004/05, his free kick ending a 4-2 Merengue win, but giving the Catalans a goal aggregate edge after they won 3-0 at Camp Nou.

The other two were in last year’s memorable brace; both strikes coming with a similar rip-roaring move up the left flank and well-placed shot. With replays of the move and the sporting reaction of applauding Merengues, Ronaldinho earned immortality with Barça fans.

The three goals mean that Ronaldinho is now tied with Zaldúa, Rivaldo and Asensi although all these players played more than R10: Rivaldo played five – and many argue that an unfairly disallowed goal should have given ‘Rivo’ the lead –Zaldúa played six and Asensi nine.

Behind the four leading lights come Bustillo, Eto'o, Cruyff, Kluivert and Luis Enrique, all with two apiece. Could it be that Ronaldinho will be able to carve his name in the history books on Sunday? Although not recently setting fields alight, could it be the right stage for Dinho to prove his critics wrong and notch up his 65th goal since arriving in Barcelona? We shall see.

Ronaldinho heads award nominees

Chief among them is Ronaldinho, winner of the last two awards and one of the key figures as FC Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League in May. He is joined by club-mates Deco, Samuel Eto'o and Lilian Thuram, although the defender is selected largely on the basis on his performances for France at the FIFA World Cup when he was still a Juventus player.

Barcelona's Messi matching Beckham, Ronaldinho global appeal

Barcelona whiz Lionel Messi is emerging as a global brand to challenge teammate Ronaldinho and Real Madrid star David Beckham.

McDonalds, X-Box, Mastercard, Adidas, Garbarino, Pepsi and Gatorade are just some of the big, global companies to have signed endorsement deals with the teenager - mainly to promote their products in Argentina.

However, Messi's father, Jorge, is also sifting through lucrative offers from Japan, where Lionel's profile is continuing to sky-rocket thanks to Barcelona's popularity in the Far East.