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West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green made a series of fine saves to help West Ham earn a 0-0 draw against London rivals Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Saturday. Green was in unbeatable form and saved his best moment until the final minutes when he tipped Gareth Bale's free-kick onto the crossbar. The England international's man-of-the-match display ensured Avram Grant's side overcame waves of Tottenham pressure and moved out of the relegation zone ahead of Saturday's 1500GMT matches. Spurs were handed a tough task when they were pitted against Real Madrid in Friday's draw for the Champions League quarter-finals. But their focus was on this London derby as they tried to close the three-point gap on Chelsea in the race for a top-four finish. Make no mistake, there is no love lost between these two sides. There is a deep-rooted rivalry that has only intensified following the battle for the Olympic Stadium. Tottenham and West Ham both launched bids for the stadium in Stratford and the latter were successful. West Ham arrived at White Hart Lane in their best form of the season. Wins over Liverpool and Stoke in the Premier League have improved their chancaes of beating relegation.

Tottenham earned a memorable first-leg win at AC Milan to give themselves the upper hand in their last-16 Champions League tie against the Serie A leaders.Peter Crouch stroked in the winner after 80 minutes from a pass by Aaron Lennon, who had led a blistering Spurs counter-attack. Tottenham keeper Heurelho Gomes had twice kept his side level with two superb saves from Mario Yepes headers. Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a late goal disallowed for Milan as Spurs held on. The match was marred by a touchline fracas when Milan's combative midfielder Gennaro Gattuso head butted Tottenham assistant manager Joe Jordan after the final whistle. Gattuso had already been in an altercation with Jordan, seemingly shoving him in the face close to the Spurs dug-out when they clashed during the game and the Italian continued his battle after the match.

The result would not have helped the combustible Italian's temper, in addition to the AC Milan captain picking up a yellow card which rules him out of the return leg, as his side were made to look second best for most of the game at a rain-soaked San Siro.

A touch of nerves from Spurs almost let Milan back into the game but, after Robinho's far-post shot had been diverted wide, Ibrahimovic was rightly punished for pushing Michael Dawson before guiding in a shot with his back to goal. The aim of Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp was to make sure his side were still in the tie going into the return leg at White Hart Lane but his players did so much more.Crouch, who had come on as a late substitute when his former club Liverpool lost to AC Milan in the 2007 Champions League final, had led the line tirelessly before being rewarded with his late goal. It marked a win which came from some of the attacking football Spurs are capable of but also the type of resolute display Redknapp had doubted his team could produce. Spurs' swashbuckling style has made them one of the entertainers of this season's competition but, despite Redknapp vowing to attack, he also had one eye on tempering his side's adventure with vigilance.

The memory of Tottenham being four goals and a man down after 35 minutes when they played Inter Milan at the San Siro in the group stages might have had an influence on his thinking. He preferred the more defensive-minded Steven Pienaar to Niko Kranjcar, who had grabbed two winners in the last two games, on the left of a midfield also including holding players Sandro and Wilson Palacios. However, there was still plenty of threat up front and the visitors were unlucky not to have a penalty when Rafael van der Vaart's cross appeared to be blocked by the arm of Milan centre-back Alessandro Nesta in the opening minutes.

The aerial threat of striker Crouch made life uncomfortable for the Italian league leaders and he almost scored when Vedran Corluka's incisive pass released Lennon, whose cross was intercepted by keeper Christian Abbiati. In diving to palm away Lennon's cross, Abbiati got a knock to the head and had to be replaced by Marco Amelia.Spurs had a degree of control and comfort, while Milan looked lethargic and laboured. A long range Van der Vaart left-foot strike was tipped over by Amelia before the Dutchman produced a sublime chip which went agonisingly wide as Spurs went close. Milan had brought on Alexandre Pato for the ineffectual Clarence Seedorf at the break and, as they began to to carry more of a threat, Spurs keeper Gomes was called into making a crucial save. From Gattuso's dinked cross AC Milan centre-back Yepes guided a header towards the top corner and it took a dive at full stretch for Gomes to palm his effort wide. The home side's increased appetite spilled over into overly aggressive play at times and ex-Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini should have been sent off for a two-footed lunge on Corluka but he somehow escaped with a yellow card.

Jonathan Woodgate, who had not played since November 2009, came on for Corluka as some of Milan's antics started to ruffle Spurs' feathers. It took another crucial save from Gomes to keep his side level as he again kept out a Yepes header from close range. But the visitors stunned the San Siro crowd when Lennon left the AC Milan side in his wake as he stormed upfield and the winger had the composure to slide the ball across to Crouch to slot in for a greatest victory.

Arsenal struck twice in five minutes late on as they staged a stirring comeback to beat Champions League favorites Barcelona on a night to savour at the Emirates.Barcelona looked on course to take a precious lead into the second leg of this last 16 clash at the Nou Camp as they protected the first-half advantage given to them by David Villa.The Catalans wasted chances to strengthen their position, with Lionel Messi an unlikely culprit, leaving the door open for the Gunners to keep their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals alive in spectacular fashion.Robin van Persie equalised 12 minutes from time with a shot that somehow eluded Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes at his near post before substitute Andrey Arshavin sent Arsenal's fans into ecstasy with a crisp finish that gives them a slender lead to take to Spain.

The Premier League outfit were attempting to follow in the footsteps of arch-rivals Tottenham after their magnificent win against AC Milan in the San Siro on Tuesday - and they were not to be outdone as they made it a memorable 24 hours for north London in Champions League combat.

Arsene Wenger's side were intent on proving a point after losing 6-3 to Barcelona over two legs at the quarter-final stage last season and they achieved their objective without sacrificing their long-held principles.

For all the talk of Arsenal attempting to make it a physical confrontation with the lavishly gifted Barca stars, the Gunners continued to play their trademark passing game and reaped a rich dividend in a frantic finale.

Barcelona, ironically, looked in control as the game entered its final phase, but once Van Persie leveled the mood inside the Emirates helped sweep Arsenal to victory.

Barca coach Pep Guardiola will still be confident his side can overturn a narrow deficit in the return, but the Gunners now have something to protect and will travel with the confidence this triumph will have given them.

Jack Wilshere was the symbol of Arsenal's development since the teams last met with a performance of composure that made a nonsense of his tender teenage years. Meanwhile Arsenal's resilience and dogged determination as Barcelona dominated possession for lengthy spells met with Wenger's approval.

Wenger described it as "a special night" - and Arsenal's manager must take great credit for a relentlessly positive attitude on and off the pitch, introducing Arshavin for Alex Song and Nicklas Bendtner for Theo Walcott even though his side were behind.The Gunners boss insisted the La Liga leaders remain favourites to progress but Arsenal will feel they have applied pressure to Barcelona as they carry a weight of expectation into the second leg.Arsenal were determined to guard against the type of chasing they suffered in the opening half at the Emirates when the sides met last season and this time around they more than held their own against the Catalan artists.Samir Nasri's availability after a hamstring injury provided a real bonus for the Gunners and they started with admirable attacking intent. A wonderful moment of invention from Cesc Fabregas, lifting the ball over the Barca defence, forged an early opening for Van Persie but keeper Valdes was alert and made a crucial block.Barcelona's response was the lacerating passage of play that has become their trademark. Villa sent Messi clear, but the little Argentine over-elaborated with a routine finish and not only guided his effort over Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny but wide of the far post.

It was a moment that was met with an audible gasp of relief around the Emirates - but it was the clearest indication yet that Barcelona were finding their feet after the intensity of Arsenal's start.

Andres Iniesta almost put Villa in on goal before Messi was again wasteful with another chance, tamely chipping into the hands of Szczesny despite having the time and space he usually relishes.

As the game swung from end to end it needed a desperate headed clearance from Eric Abidal as Van Persie closed in on Fabregas' cross, but the Barca pressure was mounting and the reward came after 26 minutes.

Messi, inevitably, was the creator with a pass that cut Arsenal open, leaving the lethal Villa to stride forward and score with typical expertise.

As Wenger's side struggled to recover Szczesny did well to block Pedro at his near post before the Gunners broke the Barcelona stranglehold and Van Persie should have done better than to fire wildly off target when well placed.Messi had the ball in the net just before half-time but he was adjudged offside, and both sides traded blows again as the second period unfolded, Barcelona appealing in vain for a penalty as Villa collided with Laurent Koscielny and Van Persie again testing Valdes from the edge of the area. 

Messi had mixed brilliance with some uncharacteristic profligacy in front of goal. He should have extended Barca's lead when he was released inside the area after 67 minutes but shot into the side netting.

Arsenal stuck to their task, despite Barcelona enjoying prolonged periods of possession, and they drew level with 12 minutes left. Van Persie's low shot from an acute angle carried pace and power, but Valdes was desperately at fault as he stood motionless as the Netherlands striker's effort flew in at his near post.

Barcelona were suddenly rocking and Wenger's team turned the tie on its head and, roared on by feverish backing on a thunderous night, scored the winner when Arshavin arrived on the end of Nasri's right-flank cross to steer a precise finish past Valdes.Arshavin showed the other side of his game when a moment of defensive vulnerability almost let in Dani Alves in stoppage time - but Arsenal survived to keep their Champions League hopes alive.

If Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo wanted to lay down markers ahead of the Barcelona v Real Madrid showdown at the Camp Nou on Monday, scoring hat-tricks in their final La Liga games before El Clasico was a typically sublime way to go about it.

Messi and Ronaldo are the two best players on the planet right now. They play weekly at a level most can only dream of, consistently overshadowing the abundance of world-class players who line up as their team-mates and opponents alike, reports BBC sports.

They are the last two winners of the Fifa World Footballer of the Year award and, despite being far from stereotypical centre-forwards in a positional sense, have each won a European Golden Shoe prize in the last three years.

They have scored 27 La Liga goals between them already this term - four more than the next top scorers in the division, Villarreal.

"What more can you say about Messi?" asked Barca colleague and Spain's World Cup-winning goalscorer Andres Iniesta in the aftermath of Messi's eighth treble for the Catalan club, in an 8-0 destruction of Almeria last weekend. "There are no words left. Let's hope he continues as he is."

After firing in three more goals in Real's 5-1 drubbing of Athletic Bilbao on the same day to stay one clear of his rival in the race for the Pichichi (Spain's top goalscorer), Ronaldo preferred to do his own talking: "I'm very happy for scoring three goals, but the important thing is that we continue being leaders. Barcelona's 8-0 win at Almeria doesn't tell me anything, Let's see if they score eight goals against us on Monday."

Monday is the day when Spain's top two meet for the first time this season, with Real Madrid a single point ahead of Barcelona in the standings.

It is a game customarily filled with intrigue and the pre-match phoney war will be taken to new levels this time around with Barca's arch-nemesis Jose Mourinho overseeing his first Clasico in charge of Real.

But when the talking stops and referee Eduaro Gonzalez blows his whistle at 2000 GMT, the focus will then centre around Messi and Ronaldo - the two proxy leaders of their teams, the men who are almost certain to have the greatest impact on the result and, longer term, the destiny of the Spanish title.

So much has been written about them both before, these two fascinatingly contrary figures: Messi, the shy, formerly-fragile boy from Argentina who packed his bags aged 13 and put himself in Barcelona's care; and Ronaldo, the perma-tanned Portuguese with the perfect physique and arrogance to match his £80m attributes.

Perhaps it is because they are so unique, as far removed from each other as they are from the mere mortals who seek to attain their greatness, that they are so open to comparison.

It is a point Noe Pamarot made to me when I asked the well-travelled Hercules defender to compare two players he has done battle with in La Liga in the past three months.

"The stats are amazing for both of them, it is incredible how many goals they score," said Pamarot, who also played against Ronaldo six times during a five-year spell in English football playing for Tottenham and Portsmouth.

"But they don't play anything like each other. They have both got the speed and the skills, but for me, Messi plays only for the team and that makes him a more dangerous opponent. He isn't always looking to score himself - if he isn't scoring, he is making an assist or having a big influence on the game anyway.

"They are comfortably the world's best right now. But Messi is very, very special. He is starting to prove weekly he is on a different level to everyone else. Can he be the greatest of all time? If he carries on like this for some more years, he can end up the same or even better than Diego Maradona and Pele. Why not?"

Pamarot's thoughts cast my mind back to a study of the pair conducted by the University of Coruna in Spain in April. It found that more than 80% of Barcelona's passing moves involved Messi, compared to 60% with Ronaldo and Madrid. When Messi gets the ball, his only thought is getting it into the back of his opponents' net; when Ronaldo picks it up, his is to put it there himself.

At a time when the fluid passing and movement style of Spain and Barcelona is fashionable and everyone wants to watch tiki-taka, Ronaldo's fearsome power and single-minded selfishness when he is within sight of goal is, to some, considered an inferior alternative, aesthetically-speaking anyway.

Another player who has been on the receiving end of the genius of Messi and Ronaldo is Ivory Coast midfielder Didier Zokora. The 29-year-old played against Ronaldo five times in his three-year stint with Spurs and was in the Sevilla team that suffered a 5-0 defeat at Barcelona a month ago in which Messi scored twice.

"The two of them are very good, for sure, but I prefer Messi," said Zokora. "Messi is perfect in the art of dribbling, while Ronaldo's shot is incredible. It is very difficult to stop them, they are very, very fast. Could one of them go on and be the greatest? It is difficult to say it, but maybe..."

For now, it is far easier to let the numbers do the talking. Courtesy of Infostrada Sports, here are the pair's breathtaking goal tallies in black and white:

Lionel Messi:

- 22 goals in 17 games for Barcelona this season
- 54 goals in 48 games for Barcelona in 2010
- Has scored in nine consecutive games for Barca
- In last five seasons (this season last), has scored: 17, 16, 38, 47, 22

Cristiano Ronaldo:

- 16 goals in 18 games for Real Madrid this season
- 38 goals in 42 games for Real Madrid in 2010
- Has scored 14 goals in 12 La Liga games this term
- In last five seasons (first three with Man Utd), has scored: 23, 42, 26, 33, 18

Chalk and cheese they may well be, but in the prolific way they find the net these men - who rarely play as out-and-out strikers - do at least have something in common. And according to the University of Coruna's study, that's not all. They also believe Messi and Ronaldo to be the two fastest players in the history of the game in terms of running with the ball.

So who do you pity more ahead of the game the whole footballing world will be watching, the Barcelona backline or the Real Madrid rearguard? I asked Pamarot who it is easier to play against, and he laughed down the telephone at me. "Haha. Seriously? OK, I want to play against both because they are the ultimate test of your abilities."

Plaudits from pundits and their peers have not been in short supply as the build-up to the most talked-about domestic fixture on Earth grows ever closer. "It is clear to me, Cristiano is number one," said Mourinho.

After watching Barca and Messi rip apart his Panathinaikoas side in Europe on Wednesday, midfielder Luis Garcia purred: "Messi is a phenomenon. One can only enjoy his play. Such a player only comes by once in several decades."

Even the Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has got involved in the debate, claiming he prefers the "dribbles" of Messi to the playing style of Ronaldo, though his opinion should be taken with the caveat that the 50-year-old is a lifelong Barcelona fan.

On Monday, these two footballing phenomena go head-to-head before an expectant audience of about 98,000 people in Barcelona and tens of millions more on television around the world. They will both feel they have an extra point to prove, too: in seven games, Messi has never scored or had an assist against a Mourinho team; similarly in five, Ronaldo has never found the net against Barca.

With the likes of Maradona, Pele and Johan Cruyff all reaching the peak of their powers in different eras, perhaps we should be grateful that for this generation, the stars will collide in front of our very eyes.