The best action to follow this weekend
Saturday
? Today will see Brazilian sides Palmeiras and Flamengo go head-to-head in South America’s most important game – the final of the Copa Libertadores.
And for the first time in the 61 year history of the tournament, the final is being played by the last two clubs to win the trophy – 2019 champions Flamengo and current holders Palmeiras, who overcame another Brazilian side Santos at this stage 12 months ago.
That was the São Paulo club’s second Libertadores titles, which is incidentally the same amount as their rivals from Rio de Janeiro.
??????? In the Northern Hemisphere, today is a regular day of league action in Europe’s biggest leagues. That means we get five fixtures to look forward to in the Premier League, including Liverpool vs. Southampton and matches for some of the league’s newest managers.
Eddie Howe takes Newcastle to Arsenal looking for his first win, Dean Smith will oversee Norwich’s home game against Wolves and Steven Gerrard goes up against Patrick Vieira as Palace entertain Aston Villa.
?? Two of the top four in Italy’s top flight play later. Fourth placed Atalanta go to Juventus, currently languishing down in eighth whilst defending champions Inter could end the day one point off the league’s joint leaders, if they win away at Venezia.
?? It’s a relatively quiet day in La Liga but we will get to see if Barcelona can kick-start the so far, so familiar tenure of new manager Xavi. Following last weekend’s win over Derby rivals Espanyol, they stuttered to a goalless draw against Benfica in the Champions League and now, they face a road trip to Villarreal.
?? The big game in the Bundesliga comes at the Volkswagen Arena as Wolfsburg welcome Borussia Dortmund, with both sides looking to recover from midweek setbacks in Europe.
Elsewhere Bayern go up against struggling Arminia Bielefeld. League top scorer Robert Lewandowski has five league goals more than the whole Arminia team have managed collectively so far this season.
Sunday
??????? There’s another five games lined up in the Premier League for tomorrow, including two that feature teams who enjoyed a successful week in their respective continental competitions.
Manchester City, who confirmed top spot in their Champions League group with a win over PSG play West Ham, who did the same in the Europa League.
And in the day’s late kick-off league leaders Chelsea, handsome victors over Juventus in midweek take on Manchester United, who’ll be hoping to continue the interim manager bump under the tutelage of Michael Carrick.
?? Its top versus third in La Liga’s headline game of the weekend, with Real Madrid testing their 8 game unbeaten run against Sevilla, who themselves have only lost one league game all season.
That game could become second versus third should Real Sociedad leapfrog Madrid with a win away to Espanyol earlier in the day.
?? Serie A’s joint leaders, Milan and Napoli will both be looking to get back to winning ways after finally losing their unbeaten league records last weekend.
Milan did of course have that late Champions League win at Atlético Madrid in midweek but they’ll want to follow that up at home to Sassuolo. For Napoli though, who paired defeat to Inter with further disappointment at Spartak Moscow in the Europa League – nothing but a win will do against tomorrow’s opponents Lazio.
?? Post-season continues in MLS with two Conference Semi-Finals taking place on Sunday. In the West, Sporting Kansas City take on surprise package Real Salt Lake. The latter got past regular favourites Seattle Sounders in the last round despite not taking a single shot on goal in 120 minutes of football – instead relying on the lottery of penalty kicks to see them through!
And in the East, the game between second and third seeds, Philadelphia Union and Nashville SC looks too close to call.
?? Similarly, the Swedish title race is a particularly tight affair going in to the penultimate round, with games being played tomorrow and Monday. In fact, top four are separated by just three points!
Current leaders and defending champions Malmö go to Kalmar (6th) whilst Djurgården have a home game against Varbergs (11th). And then, if we look slightly further ahead that the usual remit of this article – 4th placed Elfsborg play 3rd placed AIK tomorrow evening.
Expect drama.
If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.
Or join us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to discuss all the important football going on this weekend!
Cover Image from IMAGO