The best action to follow this weekend
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Saturday
?? The Derby della Madonnina, or Milan Derby is quite simply the biggest game in club football this weekend. Inter are the designated home side for the clash against city rivals Milan in the stadium that they share, and its Inter who go in to the game with a four point lead at the top of Serie A.
Milan sit third, level on points with Napoli above them and they will be looking to get back to winning ways after defeat to lowly Spezia and a goalless draw against Juventus in their last two fixtures.
??????? The FA Cup takes priority in England over the next few days, although if you do need a Premier League fix there is one vital game being played, and that’s between the bottom two – Burnley vs. Watford.
In the fourth round itself, look out for the games involving lower league teams taking on top flight opposition. After all, the FA Cup is built on the back of potential giant-killings!
Kidderminster Harriers are the lowest side left in the competition sitting as they do, third in the National League North (level 6 of English football) and they host West Ham United. Elsewhere, League Two (level 4) Hartlepool United go to Crystal Palace whilst League One (level 3) Plymouth Argyle will be putting their promotion aspirations to one side as they visit the home of European Champions, Chelsea!
Another intriguing clash pits Premier League leaders Manchester City against Fulham, their counterparts from the Championship. Both sides are in form, with Fulham always a threat going forward – they’re averaging over 2.6 goals a game this season.
?? In the Bundesliga, Bayern München face RB Leipzig in the Saturday headliner in Germany and whilst this isn’t the potential title decider it has been in recent years – Leipzig currently sit sixth in the table, there is still no love lost between the sides. That does of course, stem from the perception that one tends to lose their star players and indeed coaches to the other on a regular basis, mentioning no names (ahem Julian Nagelsmann).
? The delayed 2021 FIFA Club World Cup sees its first major contest take place on Saturday with African Champions, Al Ahly of Egypt – often dubbed the biggest team in Africa taking on Concacaf Champions League holders Monterrey, from Mexico.
The winners of this one go on to face Palmeiras, with the Brazilian giants allowed a bye until the semi-final stage due to their status as South America representatives.
Sunday
? The Africa Cup of Nations will come to a dramatic conclusion on Sunday, with the final set to be contested by Senegal and Egypt. Now, you won’t catch us reducing a game of this magnitude to a clash between two strikers from the same Premier League club, it’s obviously so much more than that.
That said, Sadio Mané’s side (!) have the chance to right the wrong of losing out in the 2019 final but they will have to do it against the tournament’s most decorated nation, as Mo Salah (!) and his countrymen look for AFCON title number eight.
Senegal have looked fluent in the knockout stages, easing past Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso whilst Egypt required penalty shoot-out wins against the Côte d’Ivoire in the Round of 16 and again in Thursday’s Semi-Final versus Cameroon.
?? La Liga should be lively on Sunday with six of the current top seven all involved. Leaders Real Madrid have the easiest game on paper, at home against 14th placed Granada whilst Real Betis, who sit third at the time of writing must play seventh placed Villarreal.
Top of the billing though, will be the game between fourth and fifth as defending champions Atlético Madrid go to Barcelona. And given the transfers between the two clubs, there may be a few players out to prove a point against their former employers.
??????? Back to the FA Cup and Sunday features a couple of ties that might just grab the headlines. Leicester City, the current holders make the short trip to Championship side Nottingham Forest and Liverpool entertain Cardiff City.
??????? It’s already been a significant week in the Scottish Premiership where Celtic beat old rivals Rangers to take top spot in the table, a position Rangers had held since Round 5 of the season. The defeat ended Rangers’ 21-game unbeaten league run and extended Celtic’s to 18 under the impressive stewardship of new manager Ange Postecoglou.
On Sunday, both sides face a further test – Rangers host Hearts, who’ve sat third for the majority of the campaign and Celtic go to Motherwell, the side currently in fourth.
?? Ligue 1 provides an interesting end to the weekend as we get to see how outgoing champions Lille shape up against PSG, the side aiming to regain what was taken from them in that dramatic 2020/21 season. Despite their success in the Champions League groups stages, Lille are looking decidedly mid-table domestically but PSG haven’t been as dominant as their 11 point lead in the table might suggest, and they did suffer an early exit from the Coupe de France on Monday night.
?? Lastly, we’ll end with a look at Sunday’s Serie A fixtures where Napoli will know exactly what they need to do to keep pace with the Milan clubs as they visit Venezia.
And later, we’ll have our alerts set to see if Dušan Vlahović makes his first appearance for new club Juventus after the league’s joint top scorer made his controversial and rather protracted move from Fiorentina. The Old Lady face Hellas Verona in Turin.
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Cover Image from IMAGO