The best matches to follow this weekend
Saturday
🏴 There is a lot of quality football on offer this weekend but we start with the first quarter-final in the World’s oldest club competition, the English FA Cup. And that game sees Championship League leaders Burnley go to Manchester City. Or as it’s being billed mostly, the chance for the apprentice – Vincent Kompany – to pit his wits against the master, and his former coach – Pep Guardiola. That can’t be missed. Especially not with the prospect of a pent-up Erling Haaland who was withdrawn from Manchester City’s Champions League annihilation of Leipzig before the Norwegian had had the chance to complete his double hat-trick!
Back in the Premier League, Chelsea and Everton meet in a game that will test both sides’ recent improvement in form, and bottom side Southampton will be looking for points against Tottenham Hotspur, who, themselves need the win to maintain their top four challenge.
🇩🇪 It’s not been a good couple of weeks for Borussia Dortmund – first being knocked out of the Champions League from a winning position, then being pegged back by rivals, Schalke, to draw the Revierderby. They remain, however, just two points off Bundesliga leaders Bayern and can at least temporarily go above them should they pick up all three points from a home game against mid-table FC Köln.
🇪🇸 LaLiga’s main event comes on Sunday but there’s also a headline game on Saturday as Valencia travel to Atlético Madrid. Los Che are struggling to keep their heads above the relegation zone and are without so much as a goal in their last five away games but it’s a run they’ll be desperate to end at the Metropolitano. For their part, Atlético are unbeaten in nine and now look best placed to take third place behind Barcelona and Madrid.
🇮🇹 In Italy, the great footballing city of Milan will be celebrating the fact that both San Siro sides confirmed their places in the Champions League quarter-finals and that they were drawn on what looks like the ‘easier’ side of the draw made earlier today – more details on which you can find, here.
On Saturday though, Milan need to get back to business in Serie A as they concentrate on making sure they qualify for next season’s Champions League with a top four finish. They visit Udinese, who haven’t won any of their last 11 home games.
🇺🇸 The new MLS season continues at pace and our pick of the weekend games include LAFC’s trip to Seattle Sounders – the current MLS Cup Champions vs. the Concacaf Champions League holders. Speaking of which, LAFC survived a scare, at home, to Costa Rican side Alajuelense during the week before eventually pulling through to this year’s quarter-finals in that particular competition.
Elsewhere, St. Louis City could record the best winning start ever made by a new expansion side – if they can make it four wins from four against San Jose Earthquakes. And there’s an all-Texan Derby between Houston Dynamo and Austin FC.
🇲🇽 Not to be outdone by their counterparts in Europe (see Sunday’s listings) the powers that be, in Mexico, have ensured that two of Liga MX’s biggest rivalries are scheduled to take place on Saturday night. The Clásico Regiomontano sees leaders Monterrey go up against third placed city rivals Tigres and then it’s the big daddy of them all – the Superclásico between Chivas and América, who are currently sat fourth and fifth in the table.
Sunday
🇪🇸 You might think the authorities running club football are trying to remind us of what we’ll be missing as the international break looms over the horizon. And you would be right because there’s a host of big games lined up for Sunday. Not least in LaLiga where Barcelona and Real Madrid, the top two, meet for what is already the third Clásico of 2023.
Barça have won the previous two – firstly, to lift the Supercopa back in January, and then to take a 1-0 lead from the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final back at the start of March. Should Real Madrid fail to win this game, and therefore make in-roads on Barcelona’s current nine point lead in the title race, they will have the chance to overturn that Copa game as soon as the first week of April.
🏴 The remaining three FA Cup quarter-finals all take place on Sunday and despite the long history (150 years plus) of the competition we’ll still witness something rare when Grimsby Town take on Brighton. The Mariners are just the fifth side from the fourth tier to make it through to the last eight and the first ever to win five consecutive games against teams from a division above. The better omen for Brighton fans is perhaps the fact that none of the previous four teams from Grimsby’s division have gone on to win their quarter-final matches!
Fresh from the completion of their two-legged Europa League win over Real Betis, Manchester United will continue their hunt for a second domestic Cup win of the season when they take on Fulham. And there’s an all-Championship tie between Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers, the sides currently sat second and fifth in England’s second tier.
Just one Premier League game goes ahead as planned on Sunday with leaders Arsenal taking on Crystal Palace. The Gunners will need to move on swiftly from their own Europa League disappointment – the penalty shootout loss to Sporting – as they continue the march towards a first league title since 2004. They may want to watch out for that classic new manager bounce though, as the Eagles dispensed with the services of coach, Patrick Vieira on Friday morning.
🇮🇹 Similarly to the Clásico rivals in Spain, Italy’s two most successful clubs – Inter and Juventus – are about to get very well acquainted with each other. This weekend’s Derby d’Italia is the first of three meetings between the two that are taking place over the next month or so as they too, have been drawn together in the semi-finals of the biggest domestic cup competition.
Inter currently sit second in the table (a full 18 points down on leaders Napoli) but a win against their old rivals would help secure that position in the event that Juve are successful in their appeal to overturn their 15 point deduction. With 12 points currently the difference between the two, we’d then – hypothetically speaking – be getting in to goal difference and head-to-head differentials.
Elsewhere, city rivals Lazio and Roma will meet at the Stadio Olimpico. Never one to cool the temperature of an always heated Derby Day, José Mourinho will only have stoked the fire with his comments mocking Lazio after their surprise defeat in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night. That, of course, came after Roma had secured their own place in the Europa League quarter-finals.
Those two huge match-ups aside, Napoli, the actual Serie A champions-elect will be visiting Turin to play eighth placed Torino in a game played earlier in the day.
🇳🇱 Just six points separate the top four in the Eredivisie title race, meaning a clash between any two of those sides could prove crucial. And well, when they also happen to be Ajax and Feyenoord, the two main protagonists, and the nation’s biggest rivals, that is especially the case. Feyenoord smashed seven goals past Shakhtar to progress in the Europa League on Thursday so they come into De Klassieker on a high. And with the benefit of three more points than Ajax, the three-time defending champions.
🇫🇷 PSG have a significantly more comfortable 10 point lead at the top of Ligue 1 and they’ll be back in action on Sunday – albeit they come up against Rennes, a side they’ve only beaten twice in their last six meetings. And elsewhere, Marseille, PSG’s nearest challengers face Stade Reims, the side that Will Still has famously led on a record 18 games unbeaten run since taking over the role of head coach. Can the young, technically under-qualified, Belgian born, Englishman maintain that unbeaten run against one of the giants of French football?
🇧🇷 And last but not least for this weekend’s preview, we take you to Brazil, where the various State Championships are coming to a head before we move on to the full league season proper. In Rio, that means we get the second leg of the semi-final between arch-rivals Vasco da Gama and Flamengo.
Having got the better of Flamengo earlier in the competition, Vasco find themselves 3-2 down heading in to this one after an action-packed first leg played at the Maracanã last week.
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Cover Image from IMAGO