In this weekend preview we summarise the best five games to follow on your match feed. And make a couple of suggestions for matches that you may otherwise miss.
🇩🇪 Borussia Dortmund vs. Mainz
Could Saturday be the day that Bayern Munich’s 10-year stranglehold on the Bundesliga finally comes to an end? It’s all set up to be a dramatic final day of the season in Germany’s top flight with the biggest prize still up for grabs.
After a couple of months in which the title race has ebbed and flowed as both Klassiker rivals have faltered, or found form, last weekend’s results have left Borussia Dortmund in charge of their own destiny. Before Bayern were beaten soundly, at home, by RB Leipzig, it looked like being just another year, albeit one in which the margin by which the FC Hollywood juggernaut won the league was closer than normal. But following that result, combined with the ease with which Dortmund dispatched Augsburg last Sunday, it’s the black and yellow’s who are favourites to lift the Meisterschale.
With all of Saturday’s games kicking off simultaneously, all Dortmund need to do in their game vs. Mainz is match whatever is happening in Cologne, between FC Köln and Bayern. Beat Mainz and the club’s ninth title is secured, draw and they must hope Bayern drop points. With Bayern’s superior goal difference, goals scored, and head-to-head record this season, any slip-ups from Dortmund will most likely gift their rivals what would be their 11th straight title.
If that’s not enough for you, there’s also drama at the other end of the table, plus European places still up for grabs. For a full extended Bundesliga preview click here.
🇫🇷 Strasbourg vs. Paris Saint-Germain
We’ve reached the penultimate weekend in Ligue 1, but here too, we’ll probably see the title decided on Saturday.
PSG look like they’ve stumbled their way to defending the championship that they’ve won in four of the last five years despite losing more games than they did in each of those title-winning seasons. And with further disharmony caused by doubts concerning the methods of coach Christophe Galtier, and the fall-out from an early exit in both the Champions League and the Coupe de France.
That will, likely, all be forgotten for a while if the superstar Parisians can pick up at least a point from their road trip to 15th placed Strasbourg. Although the club from Alsace aren’t mathematically safe from relegation, a defeat here would be a massive shock. And one that would keep RC Lens dreaming of a late steal in the title race.
Lens currently sit six points down on PSG but with wins in all but one of their last ten games (the outlier being a trip to Paris), they are the form side in the division. And they perhaps face the easier run-in, with Saturday’s clash against the already relegated AC Ajaccio, followed by a trip to Auxerre.
🇵🇹 Benfica vs. Santa Clara
We talked up Benfica’s chance of winning the Liga Portugal at the home of their Lisbon rivals Sporting in last week’s edition of this column. But the league leaders failed to do so – only rescuing a point with a 94th minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw! And thus, we need to highlight their last remaining game, which takes place on Saturday.
Benfica have a two point advantage over FC Porto going into the final round of games but frankly, the Eagles couldn’t ask for a friendlier opposition. While Porto face Vitória, who need points to secure a place in next season’s Europa Conference League, Benfica have bottom side (and already relegated) Santa Clara.
If you’re not familiar with the name, Santa Clara are based in the Azores, an archipelago out in the mid-Atlantic. In fact, they were at one time officially affiliated with Benfica and take a lot of their inspiration from the mainland club – just look at the similarities between their crests!
🏴 Everton vs. AFC Bournemouth
After last weekend, when the Premier League title was won by Manchester City, and mid-week games where Manchester United secured the last Champions League spot, we’re left with a final weekend of fixtures where all the drama will take place at the bottom of the table.
The equation is fairly simple: Two from three sides will join Southampton in dropping to the Championship. And the fate of both Leicester City and Leeds United, the two sides currently occupying 18th and 19th, rests mainly on the outcome of Sunday’s game between Everton and AFC Bournemouth. Hence our selection here.
The Toffees currently have a two point advantage on the two sides below them and they know a win would keep their proud top flight record alive. Only Arsenal have been in the division for a longer period of time without relegation.
Bournemouth have lost their last three games and with their survival already assured that recent form might just continue. But even if they do them a favour, both Leicester and Leeds face a final day where they could win and still go down (all games take place on Sunday). In a scenario where Everton lose, Leicester beat West Ham and Leeds triumph at Tottenham, it’s Leicester who are best placed to survive, in terms of goal difference. Leeds need both Everton to lose and Leicester to drop points in order to leapfrog them both.
Whatever the outcome, expect tears before bedtime.
🏴 Coventry City vs. Luton Town
Waiting in the wings to replace one of those sides in the promised land of the Premier League will be the winners of Saturday’s Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley. This match-up, oft-described as the richest game in football, features two of English football’s less fashionable clubs but teams with storied histories and recent hardships.
Both have suffered financially in recent decades, something that has resulted in points deductions, relegations, and even homelessness in the case of Coventry City. For their part, Luton were playing in the fifth tier of English football as recently as 2014 and they’ve not graced the top flight since 1996. The Sky Blues fell as far as the fourth tier in 2017 having been a Premier League mainstay throughout the 1990s and up to 2001.
But now, in spite of everything both sets of supporters have faced, one of them are just 90 minutes from a glorious return. To get even this far tells you all you need to know about these sides – Coventry beat Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough side by a single second leg goal having trailed them by five points in the regular season. And Luton turned around a first leg deficit to beat Sunderland 3-2 on aggregate.
Plus two hidden gems from a little deeper in your match feed…
This week is a little different as there are two more potential title stories that need telling.
🏴 WSL title decider: Reading vs. Chelsea
The top flight of women’s football in England, the Women’s Super League, also comes to a close this weekend. And similarly to other matches we’ve highlighted above the line: The trophy is still up for grabs.
Going in to Saturday’s final games; two-time defending Champions Chelsea currently have the upper hand while relative upstarts, Manchester United, will be waiting in the wings for any potential slip-ups.
It’s been United who’ve lead the way for a large proportion of the season but with Chelsea racking up the games in hand due to long campaigns in other domestic competitions and the Champions League, the Blues have always known they could come back in to it. They now have a two-point cushion on United and the benefit of experience going into their game against bottom side Reading. A win would seal the deal. And a draw will likely be enough due to their superior goal difference.
For United though, there’s still a chance that a first ever major trophy will be theirs. Reading are fighting against relegation and need to win to stand any chance of staying up. But first and foremost, the Reds also require three points from their trip to North West rivals Liverpool.
🇧🇪 Top two clash: Royal Antwerp vs. Union St. Gilloise
Lastly for this week, we think you should keep an eye on Sunday’s big game in Belgium. Here, we’re in to the penultimate round of the Championship play-off group and we’ve still got three potential title winners.
Two of them; Royal Antwerp and Union St. Gilloise, are level on points, meaning Sunday’s game between them will be pivotal. And for both, there’s so much riding on this.
Antwerp might have won the country’s main Cup competition as recently as last month but they’ve not lifted a national league championship since way back in the 1956/57 season. And they’ve not even finished as runners-up since the 1970s.
For Union, the wait has been even longer! Historically one of Belgium’s most successful clubs, they only made it back to the top flight in 2021 after spending 48 years in the doldrums, and following major investment from new owners. Now the club is back on its feet and looking to win the league for the first time since 1935!
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Cover Image from IMAGO