Real Madrid finally discover acronym forward line ahead of El Clasico with BAV scoring eight goals in three games 

It has been a tale of two cities over two days to give a big clue on who has the advantage going into El Clasico. Monday saw the Barcelona team playing as if sacks of rocks had been tied to their feet before scraping a late winner against struggling Valladolid. 

Just a day later and Real Madrid were taking apart the Premier League champions with an emphatic 3-1 win over Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal match-up.

Clearly, with just four days to go, Real Madrid want El Clasico more. 

The other bonus from Tuesday's victory was the continuing evidence that Coach Zizou has created a true abbreviated forward line, that has been missing since Cristiano Ronaldo left for Juventus to break up the BBC. 

No coach has created not one but two such acronym strike forces in the history of soccer, a legacy worth more than any Champions League or LaLiga titles that Zidane might have picked up for Real Madrid. 

Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio and Vinicius Junior appear to be clicking to form what could either be BAV, VAB, or even an ode to Andre Villas-Boas with AVB. Either way, the in-out situation for Zidane over Eden Hazard's fitness is one less worry-line ahead of the visit of Barcelona.

Neymar in shock appearance for PSG

There is one minor miracle taking place even before Bayern Munich's hosting of PSG in the Champions League on Wednesday. There is a string of missing players either through injury, suspension and positive COVID-19 tests, and not one of them is Neymar. Yet. 

Robert Lewandowski is the biggest name missing in action due to injury in quite the boost to PSG considering the Polish striker has scored forty goals in the Bundesliga and Champions League this season. On Monday, Serge Gnabry dropped out due to a positive COVID-19 test. 

However, PSG have their own problems with Mauro Icardi out injured, Leandro Paredes suspended and also Marco Verratti and Alessandro Florenzi out with COVID-19. 

Neymar was the biggest talking-point for Mauricio Pochettino on Tuesday and the footballer's late red card and tunnel tussle in the weekend's 1-0 loss to Lille. The PSG coach was in charitable mood by explaining "he was very excited to start a match. He's an emotional player, he likes to play, he likes to fight, he's a competitor."

The pressure is on for Poch today who has had a mixed bag of results since taking over in Paris. While the dismantling of Barcelona in the Champions League bought some credit, the league form has been iffy with three defeats in the past six Ligue 1 games for PSG. 

PSG are next in action on beIN SPORTS on Saturday with a definite trap game at Strasbourg with coverage beginning from 10:30AM ET / 7:30AM PT. 

Big Basque derby live on beIN SPORTS 

While the Bayern Munch-PSG affair is over two legs and therefore no real need to watch the first one, the same cannot be said for a very special LaLiga game today. 

It's the Basque Derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic Club which is also a repeat of Saturday's Copa del Rey final where La Real came out on top. 

The home side could do with winning again to put them back into the Europa League places. Athletic on the other hand need to get a grip under Marcelino with the team's form having flopped of late after a bright start with just one win in six in LaLiga. Real Sociedad vs. Athletic Club is live on beIN SPORTS from 2:50PM ET / 11:50AM PT. 

A big day gets underway on beIN SPORTS in the Turkish Super Lig with table-topping Besiktas and their Canadian duo of Cyle Larin and Atiba Hutchinson hosting Alanyaspor at 11:50AM ET / 8:50AM PT. 

There is Coupe de France, Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana across the network with 11 games going on, but the day's piece de resistance is the first leg of the Recopa Sudamericana between the champions of the Copa Sudamericana and Copa Libertadores - in this case that's the Argentina vs. Brazil duel between Palmeiras and Defensa y Justicia. 

That gets underway live on beIN SPORTS from 8:20PM ET / 5:20PM PT.