Welcome to our weekly round-up of all the best action that the world of football has to offer over the next few days. We usually use this section to hype what’s to come but really, this weekend we don’t need to – there are so many massive matches!
? Friday Night
?? There’s nothing like a game between classical rivals to start the weekend in style and The Rome Derby – Lazio vs. Roma more than ticks that box.
It’s might not have been a vintage campaign for Lazio, but they do go into this game unbeaten in three whilst Roma are beginning to mount a genuine title challenge – a win at their shared Stadio Olimpico home would keep them third, but take them level on points with Inter.
?? It’s Clássico time in Portugal where Porto and Benfica, the country’s two most successful clubs meet in a league where the championship is usually decided by these games.
Last season, Porto won the title with Benfica finishing as runners-up, the season before it was the other way round. The season before that, the roles were reversed again, and 4 seasons ago? Yep, you get the idea! This time, the sides start 2nd and 3rd with Sporting currently muscling in on the action at the top.
?? In the Bundesliga, 5th meets 3rd as Union Berlin, who don’t seem to respect the supposed curse of second season syndrome take on Bayer Leverkusen, the pre-Christmas league leaders who are now without a win in three.
? Saturday
??????? With this week’s Premier League games being moved around or postponed we’ve ended up with five fixtures scheduled for tomorrow.
Fulham vs. Chelsea, the biggest or at least the most frequently played top flight rivalry in West London sits in the prime time spot whilst the more intense, Black Country Derby between Wolves and West Bromwich Albion kicks off the day. This is the side’s first meeting in the Premier League for nine years following a combination of promotions and relegations that has meant they’ve always seemed to miss each other.
?? After Borussia Dortmund overcame RB Leipzig in the big Bundesliga fixture last weekend, it’s time for both to refocus on chasing down Bayern, who seem to be stuttering slightly at the top of the table. For their part, Dortmund entertain basement club Mainz whilst Leipzig face a stiffer test away at Wolfsburg, another team fighting for position in the top six.
?? And it’s a double Derby Day in Sydney! If you want to see a game between two clubs with no love lost between them that actually features a packed crowd – how about two back-to-back!? The A-League and W-League have combined to give us both versions of Sydney FC vs. Western Sydney Wanderers in one stadium, one game played after the other.
? Sunday
??????? The high-ticket games just keep coming on Sunday, the supposed day of rest. And in the Premier League, that means Liverpool’s meeting with Manchester United. And for the first time in a while, it’s actually United who start the day above their near rivals, in terms of league position. There’s usually an edge to this one and we’re sure that will still be the case, crowd or no crowd.
Elsewhere, after seeing United go top of the table earlier in the week, Manchester City quietly moved up to third with victory over Brighton. On Sunday, they go again – this time against Crystal Palace. And Spurs will face Sheffield United, who should be up for it having finally won their first game of the season in midweek.
? There’s a feeling that the four-team Supercopa tournament taking place in Spain for just the second time this week is nothing more than a glorified attempt to ensure an extra El Clásico gets squeezed in to the calendar year. But if that’s the case, Athletic Club Bilbao have crashed the party by beating Real Madrid in Thursday night’s semi-final!
Now, Sunday’s final will feature Bilbao against Barcelona, who themselves only made it through after a penalty shoot-out against Real Sociedad on Wednesday. The sides last met in this game back in 2015, with Bilbao shocking Luis Enrique’s Barça squad 5-1 on aggregate.
?? Last weekend, following the Christmas break in the Eredivisie, Ajax rescued a point against fellow giants PSV having trailed 2-0 early on. Their reward is perhaps an even more important game against Feyenoord in De Klassieker, the biggest fixture in Dutch football.
?? Serie A is a league that likes to spread the pleasure over the weekend, starting with tonight’s Rome Derby and then ending Sunday with the heavyweight clash between Inter vs. Juventus.
Both sides progressed to the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia in midweek, with their respective ties going to extra-time so it will be interesting to see how they cope with player recovery and rotation.
?? And finally, after spectacularly bowing out of the Copa Libertadores at the Semi-Final stage having lost 3-0 to Santos in Brazil just a few days ago – Boca Juniors have the opportunity to redeem themselves back home. And their fans will demand that of them, as they go up against Banfield in the final of the league cup tournament that was renamed in honour of one of Boca’s finest, the Copa Diego Armando Maradona.
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