Clash Of The Titans

Unless Valdés plays in the Cup final on 19th April, this Sunday will be the last duel played out between Cristiano Ronaldo and Victor Valdés.

The first time they faced up to each other was in the semifinals of the 2007-08 Champions League. It all started with a penalty awarded to Manchester United, which Ronaldo then whacked into the post of Valdes' goal. Despite that hiccup, United qualified for the final.

Valdés got his own back one season later, and in the Champions League final. The Catalan keeper did a superb job of frustrating the constant attacks of the Portuguese, who had two clear chances in the opening minutes of the Rome final. Barça came out the winners with the final result being 2-0.

Six goalless games for CR7

After singing with Real Madrid, Cristiano's bad luck with the Barça keeper went on for three more games. He didn't manage to score against his club's eternal rival until his seventh game against Barcelona, in April 2010.

Once Cristiano had broken his duck, however, it was all downhill from there. He scored again against Valdés in the return game of the 2011 SuperCup and then again at the Camp Nou in the famous '100 point league' (1-2).

A single brace

Last season was Cristiano's most prolific against Valdés. He scored four times - two in the SuperCup and a brace in the Liga at the Camp Nou (2-2).

All in all, the two players have played against each other 18 times, 15 of them 'Clásicos', in which the forward has scored goals. A score-rate well below his strike average.