In my opinion, El Derby will be a referendum on which player is better, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.

When Barcelona hosts Real Madrid at the Camp Nou on Monday there will be 98,000 frenzied fans in the massive stadium and millions more watching around the globe. But basically, you can divide those who watch the game into two camps:

The football fanatics, who are fascinated by the head-on clash of two legendary clubs with contrasting styles of play, and the football rubberneckers, who will stop what they're doing to see whether Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo emerges victorious from the wreckage.

 

In Messi versus Ronaldo, we have an epic clash on our hands. Any era, any sport -- Ali-Frazier, McEnroe-Borg, Nicklaus-Palmer, Bobby Moore-Pele -- Messi-Ronaldo fits snugly into the pantheon of rivalries.