Welcome to our weekly guide to all the key football action coming up across the weekend. There’s no time for pleasantries today though because the big games are coming up thick and fast. Let’s get into it!
? Friday Night
?? PSG kick things off under the lights at the Parc des Princes – with Angers the visitors. The three-time consecutive Ligue 1 champions have recovered from their post-Champions League Final hangover and look to be getting back to their free-scoring best.
?? Serie A provides us with a fixture that would have been right up there in the glory days of the 1990s when Serie A ruled the waves in European football. We think the league is on its way back but nevertheless, Fiorentina vs. Sampdoria will always have a nostalgic ring to it.
?? There’s also Friday night action in the Bundesliga as Mainz go to Union Berlin. Neither side have won a game so far this season but we won’t let that put us off giving the contest a little nod here!
?? And in the US, the Fall Championship Final takes place in the NISA League. Two cult clubs – Oakland Roots and Detroit City will meet to decide this season’s winner.
? Saturday
??????? The weekend’s Premier League action gets under way with Chelsea against Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge. There are three further fixtures – including the impressive new-look Everton, at home to Brighton and Marcelo Bielsa’s buccaneering Leeds, who take on Manchester City.
Further down the pyramid, the English non-league side that we sponsor – Hampton and Richmond Borough finally begin their season with an FA Cup Qualifier. So we’ll take this opportunity to wish good luck to the Beavers!
?? In La Liga, Saturday provides at least two attractive sounding contests as Atlético entertain Villarreal and surprise league leaders, Getafe visit Real Sociedad.
?? There’s a derby game in the Bundesliga with Borussia Mönchengladbach making the 27 mile journey to rivals FC Köln.
In a busy day for German football RB Leipzig face Schalke, who sacked coach David Wagner just two games into the new season and Borussia Dortmund host Freiburg looking to bounce back from their midweek defeat to Bayern in the Super Cup.
?? It’s also derby-day in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre as old rivals, Grêmio play Internacional meet in the league. In a quirk of South American football, the two clubs are in the same group of the Copa Libertadores, the continent’s most famous tournament and faced each other just last week.
That game finished 1-0 to Grêmio but the earlier contest in the tournament ended in a mass brawl that saw four players from each team receive their marching orders.
?? The Western side of the AFC Champions League comes to a close in Qatar, with a semi-final for Asia’s biggest club prize. Saudi club, Al Nassr will fight it out with Persepolis, Iran’s most successful side to decide who will go on to face the winners of the Eastern side of the draw.
??????? Back in England, Two Girls Talk Balls are back to preview all the action in the booming Women’s Super League:
“This weekend we see the WSL return, following the international break and some lively FA Cup ties. Aston Villa and Everton kick us off with an early Saturday start where Villa will look to put some points on the board. Chelsea will want to get back to winning ways, however they face Carla Ward’s fight-back Birmingham.
Further up north we see Spurs visit Manchester City, where watchful eyes will hopefully be on an Alex Morgan debut, rather than her benched water bottle. And will the American uprising continue over at Leigh Sports Village? Fans (unless you support Brighton) will hope to see Heath and Press don the Manchester United jersey for the first time.”
? Sunday
??????? Sunday is a bumper day in the Premier League with no less than SIX games lined up! Early leaders Leicester start things off versus West Ham whilst the headline acts come from José Mourinho, who takes his Spurs side back to Manchester United and later still, the champions are at Aston Villa.
?? La Liga’s two most famous sides go on Sunday with Real Madrid facing Levante and Barcelona up against Europa League winners Sevilla.
Meanwhile, on the opening weekend of the Primera Iberdrola there’s the first Clásico of the new era as Barcelona’s women’s side go to Real Madrid for the first time since the home side were allowed to appear in the league under the club’s name.
?? Newly crowned Super Cup winners and now holders of five major honours – plus a host of individual player awards given out by UEFA this week, Bayern München and their heaving trophy cabinet host Hertha on Sunday afternoon.
?? Lastly, there’s a lively end to the weekend in Serie A. Juventus may have run up 9 league titles in a row but more often than not in recent years, it’s been Napoli who’ve come closed to knocking the Old Lady off of her perch. And they get a chance to do that again when Napoli visit Turin on Sunday night. Before that we’ll also have the meeting between the sides who finished second and fourth last season as Inter go to Lazio.
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