It should be an interesting Christmas in the Izecson dos Santos Leite household after the year young Ricardo and Rodrigo have had.

The festive period is always a shoe-in for some brandy butter-fuelled family bickering, but Early Doors reckons it will be a powder keg waiting to go off when Ricky and Rod - better known as Kaka and Digao - get together.

Kaka, you may remember, has just been crowned the best footballer in the world at about fifteen different award ceremonies.

The lesser-known Digao also plays for Milan. Only not very often. The 23-year-old (pictured on the right - he's the one who looks a bit like the one you recognise) is a bit-part player who last night played in the virtual reserve side that lost at home to Catania in the Coppa Italia.

Most players would be delighted to represent Milan, even as a fringe player, but when your brother is a borderline genius it is surely a recipe for seething resentment. Expect the Brussels sprout to fly this Yuletide.

Kaka and Digao are not the only, er, "differently-skilled" siblings to grace the sporting arena.

There is no doubt who got the thick end of the football DNA in the Charlton household, but at least Wor Jackie has a World Cup winner's medal to polish.

No such luck for luminaries such as Paul "not John" Terry, Eddy Baggio, former Norwich triallist Fernando Carlos Hasselbaink and even Gary and Philip Neville, put in the shade by netballing sister Tracey.

Eric Cantona once named his brother Joel - a favourite with Eurosport's beach soccer viewers - as the second-greatest player of all-time. The former Stockport County man was, according to Eric, better than Johan Cruyff but not quite as good as Diego Maradona.

Other sports have provided lopsided double acts like F1 legend Michael Schumacher and perennial lappee Ralf, or future NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and interception machine Eli.

Matthew Hatton fought on the undercard when brother Ricky took on Floyd Mayweather, but he did at least win his bout, while Patrick McEnroe's captaincy of the US Davis Cup team does not exactly match up to John's illustrious list of achievements.

Probably the best rubbish sibling of all is Mike McCartney, who followed Paul into the music business and, despite hitting number one with The Scaffold in 1968, was definitely not bigger than Jesus.

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Peter Crouch's defence of his two-footed tackle on John Obi Mikel on Wednesday was even flimsier than the beanpole striker himself.

"What I'm thinking is if you go in on Frank Lampard or John Terry would they roll around like Mikel did? I don't think they would have done," said Crouch after launching himself, studs-first, at the Chelsea man's pelvis.

"Would someone like Jamie Carragher have gone down like that? I think it's safe to say that he wouldn't.

"Foreign players have brought a lot to our game but that's something you don't want to see. I didn't catch Mikel [sic] but he's gone down like he's been shot."

Interesting to see Crouch leave Reds skipper Steven Gerrard off his list of non-divers. Despite being the kind of blood-and-thunder Englishman fans and pundits purr over, Gerrard does have a touch of the Greg Louganis about him.

Few could forget his famous flop in the Champions League final with Gennaro Gattuso a yard away, or the 'double' he did over Sheffield United last season, winning dubious penalties at home and away.

He also won a dodgy spot-kick against Fulham earlier this term. But, by God, if you launch a flying scissor kick at him, he stays on his feet. Bleeding foreigners.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I don't want to seem like a Scrooge but how can players win? I have to admit I am not happy about players' Christmas parties." Alan Curbishley sees sense.

FOREIGN VIEW: Ronaldinho looks set to be dropped from the Barcelona team for the biggest game of the season when they take on Real Madrid on Sunday. The Brazilian played in a reserve XI against the Barca first team yesterday.

MUST READ: It is a scientific fact that David Wheater is Middlesbrough's third-best player. Check out the best and worst players from each team this season in our Christmas report card.

COMING UP: The Champions League draw takes place at 11am, with the UEFA Cup shortly afterwards. We have live video streaming on the site plus, if your computer is a bit rubbish, plain old text commentary.

Inspired by the Bundesliga, Early Doors is taking a barely-deserved 'Winterval' break and will be back on January 2nd. Have a better Christmas than the Kaka family.

Alex Chick / Eurosport