It was inevitable really once Rafa Benitez got the Chelsea job that much of the focus would fall on his past at Liverpool and the opposition his appointment had provoked. Once he'd tried in vain to address those lengthy concerns, the time had come to explain why he hadn't been in work for nearly two years.

Some simply weren't prepared to accept that Benitez had been sensibly biding his time until the right opportunity presented itself and that finally his patience had brought its reward.

Sacked by Inter Milan shortly before Christmas back in 2010, the perception held by many was that Benitez's

Milan players celebrate after beating Juventus in Serie A (Reuters)

It was a good week for AC Milan, who sealed their progress in the Champions League before inflicting a rare defeat on Juventus, making the Rossoneri the biggest climbers in our European Power Rankings.

Milan eased the pressure on their coach Massimiliano Allegri with a 1-0 Serie A victory over Juve - who only lost their 49-match unbeaten record three weeks ago - after having beaten Anderlecht 3-1 to seal a place in the knockout phase of the Champions League, courtesy in part to a stunning Philippe Mexes overhead kick.

All of which means that Milan return to the top 20 of our elite list,

Joey Barton gets stuck in against Lille on his league debut for Marseille

Away from the glare of the English media, Joey Barton was still the focus of much attention in France ahead of his long-awaited Ligue 1 debut, which came in Sunday night's encounter between Marseille and Lille at the Stade Vélodrome.

In his home country, Barton will never shake off his bad-boy image. In France, he is l'enfant terrible du foot anglais.

However, there is a feeling that, if channelled in the right way, Barton's notorious character could make him a hero in football-crazy Marseille.

You might have forgotten, but the last Englishman to play for OM was Tyrone Mears, on loan from

Zlatan Ibrahimovic leads our European Team of the Week but he is joined in the XI by three of his former colleagues at Barcelona.

The Sweden international scored twice and claimed an assist as Paris Saint-Germain defeated promoted Troyes 4-0 at the weekend.

Barca also beat Levante by the same scoreline, with Lionel Messi also scoring twice, Andres Iniesta claiming no less than three assists, as well as scoring himself, and Gerard Pique producing a classy display at the back.

Some lesser Premier League lights made the team with Jordi Gomez scoring a hat-trick for Wigan and Stephane Sessegnon in

Barcelona's fabled La Masia academy scored another triumph on Sunday when the Liga giants fielded an entirely homegrown team during their 4-0 Liga victory against Levante.

History was made in the 14th minute when coach Tito Vilanova sent on Martin Montoya to replace the injured Dani Alves - completing a team full of La Masia products for the first time in the modern era.

Not even Vilanova's predecessor Pep Guardiola managed the feat, fielding a maximum of nine homegrown players at any time.

Brazilian substitute Adriano Correia broke the monopoly in the 75th minute, by which time Barca were

Juventus' goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saves a header from AC Milan's Sulley Muntari which appeared to cross the line

Milan welcome Serie A champions and current league leaders Juventus to the San Siro as the two sides who locked horns in last season's title race find themselves miles apart from one another during the current campaign.

Last season's meeting between the two sides in Milan was a top-of-the-table clash which ended in controversy and proved to be a decisive moment in the season.

Leading 1-0 and dominating the match, Milan had a second goal disallowed when officials failed to spot that Sulley Muntari's header had crossed the line. Juventus snatched an equaliser and went on to win the title.

Freiburg's coach Christian Streich (Reuters)

Last week in the Bundesliga, Freiburg made history with their first ever away win at in-form Hannover.

Inflicting only Hannover's second defeat in their last 25 home games left Freiburg just a point behind Hannover in sixth position with just one point separating seven clubs.

It was another sign of Freiburg's continuing improvement under individual and inspirational coach Christian Streich.

They're now a respectable 10th on 16 points, a far cry from last year when they were bottom at the winter break after their worst first half of a season. Not such a Merry Christmas.

The traditional family

Ronaldo celebrates scoring against Levante in La Liga (Reuters)

Cristiano Ronaldo was on the phone to Manchester, as he often is. He told former team-mates that he was coming to the city for Real Madrid's first ever game at Manchester City and wanted to know who was about to meet up and liven up his 24 hours in a hotel.

He was deflated to hear that Manchester United have changed their travel plans for European away games and now stay overnight afterwards so that players and staff get a night's sleep. United will return from Istanbul this afternoon (Wednesday) just a few hours before Madrid meet City.

Ronaldo was cheered though to hear that several key