The best action to follow this weekend
Saturday
?? We’ll start today’s preview with one of Europe’s biggest games, Der Klassiker – Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern München. The game which so often sets the course for how each Bundesliga season is going to play out.
Dortmund are the hosts this time around, and they go in to the game just a point behind the reigning champions. A positive COVID test looks to have denied us the chance to see all three of the league’s hottest marksmen though – at least in terms of minutes per goal, so we’ll have to make do with the battle between Haaland and Lewandowski.
?? As it stands, all of the clubs currently sitting in the top five of La Liga play today. Sevilla (4th) kick proceedings off with a home game against Villarreal before their cross city Real Betis (5th) play at Barcelona.
Later, there’s the clash between Atlético (2nd), the unpredictable reigning champions and Mallorca. And then the day’s headliner, Real Sociedad (3rd) vs. Real Madrid (1st), two sides given the Royal prefix.
With La Real having kept the most clean sheets this season – 9 in 15 league games and Madrid scoring the most goals – at a rate of 2.3 per game, this should be an intriguing contest.
??????? Similarly, the Premier League’s three runaway leaders feature in today’s fixtures. Leaders Chelsea perhaps have the toughest assignment, a trip across London to Champions League-challenging West Ham United.
Free-scoring Liverpool (averaging over 3 goals a game!) go to Wolves, who drew a blank against Burnley in the week. And Manchester City are also on the road, away at Watford, a side playing with a new found confidence under Claudio Ranieri. That is particular the case for striker Emmanuel Dennis, a goalscorer in each of his last 3 matches.
?? And apologies if you’ve heard this one before – but the top five also play in Italy today. Current leaders Napoli play the ever-entertaining Atalanta (4th) in the evening kick-off.
Before that, Milan (2nd) play bottom side Salernitana and Inter (3rd) face Roma (5th) led, of course by their Champions League winning former manager, José Mourinho.
?? As if all that wasn’t enough, you might also be interested in some final day drama in Sweden where the Allsvenskan title is still up for grabs.
Leaders, and current champions Malmö hold a two point advantage and a superior goal difference, meaning a point for them at home to Halmstads should be enough.
Should they slip up however, AIK will be waiting in the wings. They play at home vs. Sirius knowing that nothing but a win will do.
Sunday
?? The MLS Play-offs have reached the Conference Finals stage and after the West gets settled between Portland and Real Salt Lake tonight, there’s the Eastern showdown to look forward to tomorrow.
This one pits two sides making their debut at this stage of the competition having put together some impressive post-season results. Philadelphia Union have beaten NYRBs and Nashville to make it this far whilst New York City saw off Atlanta AND New England Revolution, the side who broke the all-time points record during the regular season.
??????? There’s four fixtures in the Premier League tomorrow. Manchester United, now able to have new interim coach Ralf Rangnick sit in the dugout play Crystal Palace and there’s more managerial intrigue as Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa side host his former manager, Brendan Rodgers and Leicester City.
And staying in England, tomorrow is FA Cup Final day in the women’s game. In fact, the much delayed Final for the 2020/21 season is being played at Wembley Stadium between record winners Arsenal, and current league champions Chelsea.
? With the week ahead full to the brim with the final group games in Europe’s top club competitions – the Champions League et al, tomorrow’s fixture list does in truth, look a little sparse. But there’s still intrigue, if you know where to look!
In Serie A, Juventus won’t want to suffer another slip-up when they play struggling Genoa and in the Bundesliga, early season surprise package Freiburg go to Gladbach, a side that haven’t hit the heights they did last year.
And in Austria, there’s the always heated Vienna Derby between Rapid and Austria Wien.
?? One of tomorrow’s lesser talked about games is the finale of the Premier League season in Canada. This is one of our favourite fledgling leagues and one we’ve been following since it’s inaugural season in 2019. Forge FC, the side who’ve won the two previous Championships are once again in the post-season final – this time going up against Pacific FC, who finished the regular season down in third but with the best goal scoring record.
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Cover Image from IMAGO