What happened the last time neither Messi nor Ronaldo featured in a Clásico?

Ronaldo's summer switch to Serie A means that his days of slugging it out against the might of Barcelona are over, whilst Messi's fractured arm means that he will not be able to take to the field on this occasion.

That means a first Clásico with neither involved since December 23, 2007, though a quick look at the two sides on display that night shows that whilst the two players that have dominated world football for the last decade were not on show, there was no lack of quality on show.

Yaya Toure, Carles Puyol, Deco, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o all lined up for the Catlans that night, going toe-to-toe with the likes of Raul, Wesley Sneijder, Fabio Cannavaro, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Sergio Ramos, Robinho and Iker Casillas.

Ronaldo was still a Manchester United player at this point and whilst Messi had begun the season in fine form with eight goals in LaLiga and four in the Champions League after breaking into the team a year previously, the 20-year-old was left out in favour of Barca's more seasoned campaigners as Ronaldinho and Deco came in for him and eidur Gudjohnsen.

The hosts went into the game four points behind their bitter rivals, protecting an unbeaten home record.  Despite surprise defeats to Espanyol and Sevilla, Real Madrid lead the way in the Spanish top flight and they dominated from the off at the Camp Nou to demonstrate their superiority.

Julio 'The Beast' Baptista was his side's somewhat unlikely hero, thundering an effort beyond Victor Valdés and into the top corner on 36 minutes after being found by Van Nistelrooy.

'Los Blancos' continued to be the better side, with Robinho being waved to his feet after seemingly having been felled in the box and Valdés making a sharp save to deny Ramos at the near post.

Speaking after the game, even Madrid boss Bernd Schuster said that he hadn't expected to win to be so comfortable.

"We should have finished them off sooner. I would not call it easy but it was certainly easier than I expected," he admitted.

The win opened up a seven-point gap at the top of the league as Real stormed to the title, with Barca eventually finishing 18 points off the pace in third.