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.
🏴 Premier League: Burnley vs. Manchester City
Here we go! The top flight of English football is back. And what a game we have to kick things off as Pep Guardiola’s treble-winners start their Premier League title defence, on Friday night, at the club promoted under the management of former City captain, Vincent Kompany.
Burnley looked transformed last season; winning the Championship at a canter, amassing over 100 points, scoring a league-high 1.9 goals per game while conceding at a rate of under one goal per game. They only lost three league fixtures, were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by eventual winners Manchester United, and then by City, the eventual winners in the FA Cup. That was a chastising experience for Kompany as he saw his side comfortably outplayed on their way to a Haaland-inspired 6-0 thrashing.
Not a lot of pundits are suggesting that this league meeting between the two will go the same way as that night back in March but it will be interesting to see how Kompany sets up his strong footballing side against perhaps the best, on last season’s form, team in the world. For what it’s worth, Burnley last beat City back in 2015, and last earned a point against them, at home, in 2018.
For an in-depth look ahead to the new Premier League season, check out our special feature – here.
🇪🇸 LaLiga: Getafe vs. Barcelona
LaLiga also gets underway on Friday night but we have to wait until Sunday for the first appearance of champions Barcelona. They visit Getafe, one of the sides who survived the six-way, final day, battle against relegation at the end of last season.
The man who oversaw that final run-in, Pepe Bordalás, remains in charge, and he’ll be hoping to emulate his achievements during his first stint at the club when he guided Getafe to their highest ever finish in LaLiga (fifth in 2019).
Since winning the title, Barcelona have, as usual, been busy going through the financial rigmarole to ensure that they could bolster their squad in the transfer market – so far, they’ve only moved on fringe players while signing İlkay Gündoğan and Spain centre-back Iñigo Martínez on free transfers, and added former academy product, Oriol Romeu to their midfield ranks.
So, minus the old heads – Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, now reunited at Inter Miami, Xavi’s side looks fairly similar to the one that won LaLiga with relative ease. Can they do the same again, and also be more competitive in the Champions League? A positive result at Getafe, where they haven’t won since September 2019, would be a good starting point.
Elsewhere, Real Madrid kick-off their season with what is always a heated clash against Basque side Athletic Club, on Saturday night.
🇫🇷 France: PSG vs. Lorient
In Ligue 1, a new-look Paris Saint-Germain will start their title defence when they take to field against Lorient on Saturday.
You may remember that at the end of April, it was a 3-1 defeat at home to the Breton side that started to sow the seeds for Lionel Messi’s departure, and worsened the in-fighting between the board and coach Christophe Galtier. Messi was suspended after taking an unauthorised trip to Saudi Arabia the day after that game, and Galtier was eventually sacked, despite securing the club their 11th league title.
Now, Luis Enrique will be in the home dugout, and he’ll be marshalling what looks like being a very different PSG side. Messi has gone, Mbappé, and possibly even Neymar are thought to be out of contention due to their respective contract disputes and possible departures. Instead, we’ll be watching out to see which of the Parisians’ eight summer signings gets a starting role – candidates include former Madrid forward, Marco Asensio, centre-back Milan Škriniar, Lucas Hernández, and possibly even on-loan Portuguese striker Gonçalo Ramos.
🇩🇪 DFB Super Cup: Bayern München vs. RB Leipzig
The season opener in Germany falls on the same weekend that the first round of this season’s DFB Pokal gets underway. And it features the same two sides as the Super Cup game played last August – Leipzig having won back-to-back Pokal titles and Bayern, well…having won the last 11 Bundesliga titles in a row.
Last season’s game was a goal-fest, won eventually by Bayern. And we wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was a similar story on Saturday night. Leipzig have been busy in the transfer market having had a number of huge cash injections follow the sale of stars Christopher Nkunku, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Joško Gvardiol so it will be interesting to see how they shape up. Marco Rose has been bolstered by the signings of highly rated forward players, Xavi Simons, Loïs Openda, and Fabio Carvalho.
Bayern’s biggest summer signing could, of course, still be about to happen but at the time of writing, it’s unclear when Harry Kane will join the German champions. In any case, it will not be in time for the season’s curtain raiser as the club look to win their fourth straight Super Cup.
🏆 Women’s World Cup: England vs. Colombia
The World Cup quarter-finals got underway, on Friday, with wins for Spain and Sweden setting up a semi-final between two European powerhouses of the women’s game. And on Saturday, we’ll find out who will face each other on the other side of the draw.
Hosts Australia come up against France, who look ominously strong, in Brisbane, and then England’s Lionesses play surprise package Colombia in Sydney.
The European Champions have not been at their fluent best at the tournament, the 6-1 win over China being the exception rather than the rule, and after Lauren James’ needless red card in the Round of 16 tie against Nigeria, England required a penalty shoot out victory to progress. James has been suspended for the next two games so we wait to see what impact that has on both Sarina Wiegman’s line-up, and her tactics for the meeting with Colombia.
The South Americans have won over a few hearts at these finals. Having failed to qualify in 2019, they ended up topping Group H thanks to wins over South Korea and Germany, the two nations who had been expected to qualify from the group. In the Round of 16, they then became the first side to score against Jamaica, another team who had lit up the tournament, beating them 1-0 thanks to a second half effort from Catalina Usme.
With all past winners of the World Cup now out of contention the trophy is well and truly up for grabs.
Plus two hidden gems from a little deeper in your match feed…
🇺🇸 Leagues Cup: Inter Miami vs. Charlotte
For those who’ve not been following the fairytale script – Inter Miami, bottom of MLS, winless in six, and with just five league wins to their name all season started the inter-MLS/Liga MX competition known as the Leagues Cup with fresh hope following the high profile signing of Lionel Messi.
Now, further boasted by the presence of Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, the club are on the verge of the semi-finals after four consecutive wins that have seen Messi net six goals, including three consecutive braces. Standing in their way are Charlotte FC, who have beaten Necaxa, Cruz Azul, and Houston Dynamo to make it this far.
🇳🇱 Eredivisie: Feyenoord vs. Fortuna Sittard
Aside from three of the top five leagues – the Premier League, LaLiga, and Ligue 1 – starting this weekend, there’s also the opening round in a number of other important European leagues. Not least the Eredivisie, where defending champions Feyenoord feature on Sunday.
Having lost the Dutch Super Cup, at home, to PSV last weekend, the champions will be looking for a more positive result against Fortuna Sittard, who finished last season down in 13th place.
Arne Slot’s side had a positive pre-season – going unbeaten over five games and beating the likes of Benfica and Club Brugge so the set back against title rivals PSV will be something they need to get beyond. And a strong start is required if they are to emulate the achievements of last season when they lost just twice en route to winning the league by seven points.
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Cover Image from IMAGO