Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona lock horns in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-final this Wednesday at the Bernabeu. La Liga leaders Madrid have won 22 of their last 23 games, but Barcelona have a psychological advantage over their arch-rivals having lost only one Clásico in eight since José Mourinho took over. The tie will be settled next week at the Camp Nou, and to mark this momentous occasion we have dug out five classic Clásicos from recent years for your viewing pleasure.

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Leo Messi hat-trick

It was on the night of 11th March, 2007 that a 19-year-old Leo Messi became football’s hottest property. Three times Fabio Capello’s Real Madrid took the lead in this pulsating encounter at the Camp Nou, and three times they were pegged back by Messi. The Argentinian’s virtuoso performance overshadowed superstar teammates Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o, and in a thrilling finale he sealed his hat-trick with a stunning stoppage time equaliser. Collecting a Ronaldinho pass 30 yards from goal, Messi accelerated away from two defenders and coolly steered the ball past Iker Casillas to level it up at 3-3.

Real Madrid demolish the 'Dream Team'

Messi’s treble in 2007 was the first in a Clásico since 1995, when Real Madrid’s Chilean striker Ivan Zamorano was the hat-trick hero as they demolished Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona ‘Dream Team’ 5-0 at the Bernabeu. 364 days previously, Barcelona had thrashed Madrid by the same scoreline at the Camp Nou, but the crucial difference this time around was that Danish midfielder Michael Laudrup had since switched clubs. The Dane was influential in both fixtures, and it was no coincidence that he won La Liga with each club consecutively. The 1994/95 La Liga title with Madrid was his fifth in a row.

'Match of the Century'

In 2002 Real Madrid proved their dominance over Barcelona with this impressive Champions League semi-final triumph. In a contest billed ‘Match of the Century’ by the Spanish media, Zinedine Zidane inspired Madrid’s Galacticos to a crucial 2-0 win in the first leg at the Camp Nou. The Frenchman gave Madrid the lead with a glorious chip before England winger Steve McManaman added a second late on with another superb lofted finish. The return leg at the Bernabeu finished 1-1 and Real Madrid safely booked their place in the final. With his unforgettable volleyed winner, Zidane would play a pretty crucial role in that game too.

Ronaldinho's standing ovation

A standing ovation from your own fans is one thing, but to receive one from your most hated rivals as Ronaldinho did in November 2005 is practically unheard of. In his glorious pomp, the buck-toothed Brazilian was almost unplayable. Samuel Eto’o opened the scoring for Barcelona in this magnificent 3-0 victory after a probing run from one Leo Messi, but the brilliant Ronaldinho stole the show with two stunning individual goals cutting in from the left hand side. Barca romped to the title that year, finishing 12 points clear of their arch-rivals.

The guard of honour

Barcelona's turn to be humbled here, as they are forced to give newly crowned La Liga champions Madrid a guard of honour before this meeting at the Bernabeu in May 2008. As if that wasn't humiliating enough, Madrid went on to thrash the visitors 4-1 with goals from Raúl, Robben, Higuaín and van Nistelrooy. The day after this dismal defeat, Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard was sacked. In came Pep Guardiola, and, well, you know the rest.

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Cristiano Ronaldosigned Real Madrid shirts must be the most sought after piece of football memorabilia in the world. Icons.com have done numerous signings with Cristiano in the past so we were really excited to meet up with him in Madrid this weekend and have him sign Real Madrid home and away shirts, a selection of action photos, two differnt colours of his famous Nike Vapour boots and some Portugal shirts.

Ronaldo only signs for icons.com and we've worked with the current FIFA World Player of the Year for over five years now, going back to when he was establishing himself in the Manchester United team. The full range of Real Madrid products will be on the site tomorrow, but we still have a small amount of shirts and photos left from his last signing with us in February this year where he signed a number of Manchester United products for us.

He was looking fit and well and we hope he'll be back in the Real Madrid line up in time for 'El Clasico', the game everyone in world football is looking forward too this weekend when the Champions League winners Barcelona take on Real Madrid's new generation of Galacticos. Who will come out on top in the contest between Cristiano and Lionel Messi, hotly tipped to supplant Ronaldo as officially the best player in world football when the FIFA award is announced in early December?

We're just happy to have both amazing players available on the icons.com site. We can honestly say our memorabilia is defintely signed by the world's best.

The icons.com team was in Madrid for our exclusive signing with Cristiano Ronaldo this weekend and had the chance to make a visit to Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, iconic home of Real Madrid. We put our head in the club shop and on the wall they proclaim "Real Madrid - the most successful club of the 20th Century" which, to be fair, is true.

We were there for the game between Real and Racing Santander which ended in a relatively comfortable 1-0 win for the home team. Kaka was in the side showcasing all his trademark skills along with ex-Liverpool players Xavi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa. The goal was tucked away from 5 yards by Gonzalo Higuain and the 80,000 crowd went mad. Shame we didn't get to see Cristiano play but report say he'll be ready for 'El Clasico' when Real takes on Barcelona this weekend.