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LONDON (Reuters) - Russia will still stage the 2018 World Cup finals despite the continuing blight of racism in the country's soccer, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Sunday.

Asked at a media round table event if Russia risked losing the World Cup, Blatter replied: "We have never said we will take the competition out of the country. That is impossible.

"Sporting boycotts are rarely a solution to any problem.

"But every country must follow the resolution taken by the FIFA Congress in Mauriutius in May and have a zero tolerance policy towards racism."

Manchester City's Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure said last week that black players should consider boycotting the tournament after he was subjected to racist chants from CSKA Moscow fans during a Champions League match in Moscow.

It was the sixth racist incident in the last five years involving Russian fans.

Speaking the day after attending a gala dinner marking the 150th anniversary of the founding of the English FA, Blatter said the problem of Russian racism in soccer would be discussed at the next executive committee meeting in December.

FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said he would be speaking to Russian authorities about the problem during a scheduled visit to Moscow this week.

"We will go back to the executive committee and see exactly what the situation is (in Russia) and what the latest incidents have been," Blatter said.

Blatter said he was absolutely determined to stamp racism out of football but added that FIFA could not be the world's policeman.

"The committees responsible for enforcing discipline in a competition must follow FIFA's rules and apply a zero tolerance policy when incidents of racism occur in matches they control," he said.

"We cannot go to a country or a society and tell them to stop, that is not FIFA's right. But we can stop it in football and the disciplinary committees have to impose suspensions or deduct points. We are dealing with actual problems, the problems of racism today."

Valcke told reporters he would meet Alexei Sorkin, the chief executive of Russia's 2018 World Cup organising committee and said the topic of racism would be high on the agenda.

"Of course we can use sanctions, but there is also an education programme in place in Russia and the Russian authorities and the local organising committee are working together to try and solve this problem," he said.

Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva believes the partnership of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge is improving with each match - and points to the quality of the goals they score as proof.

Suarez grabbed his first Anfield hat-trick, and his fourth in total for the club, in the 4-1 win over West Bromwich Albion although there was an argument for Sturridge netting the best effort with a delightful delicate chip to put the result beyond doubt.

The pair already have 14 league goals between them this season - and Suarez was suspended for the first five games of the campaign. However, Lucas believes that is only the beginning of something special. "The link between Luis and Daniel is only getting better," he said.

"Last year they didn't have a chance to play many games (Sturridge arrived in January but injuries and suspension had an impact on their partnership) so this season we can see they are scoring goals. When you have two strikers in the good form they are we always have to make sure we defend well because we will create chances and score goals."

Suarez claimed all the headlines with his treble, which began with an individual run and nutmeg on Jonas Olsson and was followed by a powerful 17-yard header before nodding in a Steven Gerrard free-kick, but Lucas felt Sturridge's strike surpassed them all. "I think Daniel scored the best goal to be honest," added the Brazil midfielder.

"Luis' header was a great header and the first goal was typical Luis - the [nutmeg] and the good finish but I think overall it was four fantastic goals. It's just great to see them linking well and we hope this will continue during the season."

When you have two strikers in the good form they are we always have to make sure we defend well because we will create chances and score goals.
Liverpool's Lucas Leiva on Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez
Liverpool were coasting at 3-0 before James Morrison's 66th-minute penalty gave the visitors hope and they enjoyed a good ten-minute spell before Sturridge finished them off in style. "We are disappointed we conceded a goal - I've seen it again and I don't think it was a penalty," said Lucas.

"But I think we got back and Daniel killed the game very well. For 75 minutes we were very consistent, pressing and playing good football. I think it was a great performance overall, especially when you play at home and get an early goal."

While the forwards rightly received most of the praise manager Brendan Rodgers felt Lucas also deserved some credit. The 26-year-old missed last week's draw at Newcastle United after the birth of his second child, daughter Valentina, but slotted straight back in.

His role as defensive linchpin often goes unrewarded but Rodgers knows having the Brazilian in a holding role gives his more creative players much more freedom. "When you play that system you are looking for someone to have that controlling role because that allows the two advanced (midfield) players to go forward more," said the Reds boss.

"Lucas came in and filled that really well. I thought he was excellent - as was Jordan Henderson and Steven Gerrard. They were always available for the ball, it was very good. It was the best 90 minutes of the season. I thought we looked a very good team.

"The confidence was good, how we pressed the ball was good and the front two are as good as it gets and the support behind that is very good - and we have players like (Philippe) Coutinho to come back next weekend."

BARCELONA, Spain — There was a moment, just after the clocks at Camp Nou stadium showed that 16 full minutes had been played on Saturday, when Gareth Bale sneaked a quick glance at the crowd. It was not surprising; the home fans here erupt at 17 minutes 14 seconds of each half as a way to call for Catalonian independence, their chants evoking the year 1714, when the region lost its last traces of autonomy to Spain.

Josep Lago/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images Real Madrid's Gareth Bale, left. This was the first Clásico for Bale, the Welsh wing who  joined Real Madrid from Tottenham.

So Bale looked, if but for a second. And why not? This was the first Clásico for Bale, the Welsh wing who joined Real Madrid from Tottenham, and the cries from all reaches of the stadium were surely curious. There were fans holding placards. There were screams and shouts. There was a giant flag.

Not too far from Bale, though, another Clásico rookie had his eyes down. Neymar, the Brazilian wunderkind, was beginning a run through the left side of the penalty area. Andrés Iniesta, the Barcelona playmaker, coolly slipped a pass through a seam in the Madrid defense, and Neymar scored — with help from a slight deflection — on a crisp shot to the far post.

Bedlam ensued. Neymar sprinted toward the goal line and was surrounded by his teammates. The crowd, announced at 98,761, erupted. And Bale, along with his Madrid teammates, simply stared as Neymar’s goal opened a glorious evening for Barcelona in a 2-1 victory over its biggest rival.

“Neymar has played better games,” Barcelona Manager Gerardo Martino said, “but this was the most transcendent.”

Neymar called the game “emotional” and said it was “very exciting to score in a game that everyone wants to play in.” He received a long and loud standing ovation when he left with 12 minutes remaining, and he was giddy afterward, having continued a tradition of Brazilians making an impact for Barcelona in their Clásico debuts.

Like Romario and Rivaldo, Neymar scored in his first appearance and was active throughout, combining well with Iniesta, Xavi and Lionel Messi as Barcelona controlled much of the play.

Bale will very likely remember the night for the two shots he blasted well over the crossbar and for a yellow card he earned after a dangerous challenge. He was pulled for a substitute after only an hour.

“These are his first couple games, and he needs time to build chemistry with his teammates,” said Madrid Manager Carlo Ancelotti, who used a formation that had Bale playing more in the middle of the field. “He played a good match. He needs to find the combination of the team’s movements. He worked well with the team.”

Unfortunately for Ancelotti, Bale was not the only player in white who was ineffective. Cristiano Ronaldo had scored in each of his last six games at Camp Nou, but he was stifled this time, grimacing after Victor Valdés blocked his best chance with a low dive in the 57th minute.

Ronaldo also pleaded for a penalty after falling on a challenge from Javier Mascherano about 13 minutes later.

He appeared to have a strong case, but the referee, Alberto Undiano Mallenco, was unmoved.

Ronaldo did contribute a strong run and a slick pass to set up Jesé Rodríguez for a goal in second-half stoppage time, but by then it was far too late: Alexis Sánchez’s 78th-minute chip, a sublime bit of awareness, had pushed the game out of reach.

That cunning awed the teammates of Sánchez, a Chilean forward, who has been criticized in the local news media.

“I’m speechless,” Neymar said. “It was a golazo.”

The victory was Barcelona’s first in its last six games against Madrid, and it lifted Barcelona 6 points ahead of Madrid (4 in front of second-place Atlético Madrid) in the Spanish league standings.

Although it had been 238 days since the teams last faced each other, most observers believed this was just the first of several Clásicos this season. The teams are likely to see each other in cup competition or, perhaps, the Champions League.

That was one reason some scalpers outside Camp Nou before the game found the market for tickets slightly depressed — some reported asking prices that were only about two times face value.

Still, there was an obvious anticipation for the match throughout Europe, even if some fans of the Spanish league also believe that the rivalry is emblematic of all that is wrong with soccer in Spain.

No one can deny the oversize divide between these clubs and the rest of the Spanish teams. The signings of Neymar (reportedly for about 60 million euros, or $83 million) and Bale (for a record 100 million euros) were just the latest instances in which Barcelona and Madrid stretched the gap even wider.

José María Gay de Liébana, an economist and a professor at the University of Barcelona, said Barcelona had revenue of 519 million euros during the 2011-12 season, while Madrid brought in 483 million euros; the team with the third-highest figure, Valencia, brought in 120 million euros.

Much of the disparity is attributed to the significant revenue Barcelona and Real Madrid earn from television rights, a bounty not shared by the other clubs, and executives from those clubs have pushed recently for the Spanish league to address that situation.

For the time being, however, the teams appear likely to continue operating as virtual cash machines while also staging their dramatic big-money matches.

“The 6 points counts more emotionally than mathematically,” Martino said afterward. “I’m happy, but I realize this is just the beginning.”