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.
🇫🇷 Ligue 1: PSG vs. Montpellier
After a few weeks where the lead has been shared by Nice and Monaco, PSG have a chance to restore the normal order in Ligue 1, should they win their Friday night fixture against Montpellier at home.
The Parisians have been improving over recent match days, scoring three goals in each of their four fixtures following the 4-1 thrashing they suffered at Newcastle United, in the Champions League, back at the start of October. Granted, they blew a 2-0 lead at Brest last weekend but thanks to Kylian Mbappé’s tenth league goal of the season, they did eventually win that game 3-2.
Opponents Montpellier sit in the middle of the pack with a record of W3 D3 L3. The 2012 title winners face four of the top six in their next five matches so any points from the Parc des Princes would set them up nicely for a run of fixtures likely to define their season.
🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern Munich
Arguably the biggest match in Europe taking place on Saturday comes in the Bundesliga where the two major forces, Dortmund and Bayern, meet at the Westfalenstadion.
Going into perhaps their most important away game of the season, perennial champions Bayern suffered one of the biggest defeats the DFB Pokal has ever seen, as third tier Saarbrücken dumped them out of the German Cup thanks to a 96th minute winner on Wednesday night. That same evening, Borussia Dortmund narrowly beat Hoffenheim, the side currently sat two places below them back in the league table.
Dortmund are fourth coming in to the weekend, two points down on rivals Bayern. Both remain unbeaten, with only early season pacesetters Bayer Leverkusen able to boast the same record. But BVB have been going about their business in a quieter fashion than the Champions, there’s none of the 8-0 thrashings across their results to date, in fact, they’ve scored just 20 goals to Bayern’s 34, with Julian Brandt their top scorer so far, with four.
Bayern’s shock midweek defeat was their first since the Super Cup back in August, some 14 games ago, so the Bavarian giants won’t be panicking just yet. Especially with their 10-game unbeaten run in these Klassiker contests. And Thomas Tuchel’s starting line-up with no doubt be back to full strength, with 12-goal Harry Kane, 8-goal Leroy Sané, and the ever productive Jamal Musiala leading from the front.
🇮🇹 Serie A: Atalanta vs. Inter
There’s only three Serie A fixtures scheduled for Saturday but four of the current top five all feature. Champions Napoli go to regional rivals Salernitana in the south, which should be a massive game, Milan host Udinese at the San Siro, and fourth placed Atalanta host the leaders, Inter.
And it’s the game in Bergamo that we’re focusing on here. Atalanta lost two of their opening four games of the season, but have lost just one of their consequent nine fixtures, including three group games in the Europa League. And in striker Gianluca Scamacca, who returned to Italy from West Ham in the summer, they can boast an in-form striker. He scored twice and provided the other in their most recent game, a 3-0 win at Empoli on Monday evening. And he also broke his duck for the national team, scoring against England, in the last international break.
For their part, Inter have lost just once in all competitions during 2023/24, with the Champions League finalists outscoring everybody else in Serie A, while also boasting the tightest defence. They’ve conceded just five times in their 10 games, with four of those coming in the only two matches in which they’ve dropped points – a defeat to Sassuolo and the recent draw with Bologna.
It would be fair to say that coach Simone Inzaghi can thank the Inter board for strengthening the squad considerably over the summer – international signings like Yann Sommer and Benjamin Pavard have bolstered the back line, and Marcus Thuram has linked up nicely with Lautaro Martínez up front, with the new strike partnership already having 21 goal involvements between them.
This should prove an entertaining match-up.
🏆 Copa Libertadores Final: Boca Juniors vs. Fluminense
The biggest game in South American football headlines the schedule on Saturday night, with Argentine and Brazilian rivals, Boca Juniors and Fluminense facing off against each other in the final of the 64th edition of the Copa Libertadores.
Boca are looking to equal Independiente’s record of seven tournament wins but the side from Buenos Aires will be up against it, with the game taking place at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, the home ground of opponents Fluminense.
Flu, the designated away side, have never won a continental title and they have only made one previous final (back in 2008). So they may need to lean on that ‘home’ advantage. Under coach Fernando Diniz, who is also temporarily in charge of the Brazil national team, the Tricolor side have been revolutionised – Diniz has positioned himself as the anti-Guardiola, bringing in tactics from futsal, where players are encouraged to rotate positions and work to maintain possession in areas of the pitch where their role would not normally take them. Diniz’s ideas have yet to crack Brazil’s domestic league, with Fluminense currently sat outside a highly competitive top six, but it’s worked a treat in the Libertadores as they’ve progressed past Argentine and Paraguayan opposition before surprising fellow Brazilian’s Internacional in the semi-finals.
Boca, similarly, are having an indifferent domestic season, focusing instead on this, the bigger prize. And with, former Argentina goalkeeper, Sergio Romero between the sticks they’ve become penalty shoot-out specialists. To reach this final, they’ve won consecutive shoot-outs in the round of 16, quarter-finals, AND the semi-finals, where they knocked out 2020 and 2021 champions Palmeiras! It should also be noted that’ve recently won back-to-back shoot-outs in the last two rounds back home in the Copa Argentina.
Don’t forget – Libertadores finals are now played at a time designed to tap in to a worldwide audience, with mainstream broadcasters providing coverage in territories such as the UK and the US.
🇪🇸 LaLiga: Real Madrid vs. Rayo Vallecano
Moving to Sunday, we’ll be keen to see how Real Madrid, the current leaders in LaLiga fare when they take on local rivals Rayo Vallecano, at the Bernabéu. This is obviously not the main rivalry in the Spanish capital, but it is one where relative minnows Rayo always attempt to embarrass their larger, noisier, neighbours.
Rayo also have a not so secret weapon in their squad, former Atlético Madrid hero, Radamel Falcao, who was on the scoresheet in the side’s 6-0 win in the Copa del Rey during the week.
Madrid won’t enter that particularly competition until after the completion of the four-team Supercopa tournament, so they have not played since last weekend’s Jude Bellingham-inspired comeback victory over Barcelona in the Clásico. That was their ninth league win this season and their tenth, should it come on Sunday, will most likely keep them top of the table regardless of other results.
Girona sit level with Madrid on 28 points with Atlético a further three points back in third. Both play before Madrid, as do Barcelona, who can narrow their four point deficit on the leaders if they can win at Real Sociedad on Saturday evening.
Plus two hidden gems from a little deeper in your match feed…
🏴 Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Chelsea
If you’ve been waiting to read about the biggest Premier League fixture of the weekend, apologies, but with the game between London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea not taking place until Monday, we thought we’d include it in this section and really stretch the concept of a weekend preview.
Yes, this is the game where former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino must take his misfiring Chelsea side to his former employers, who, of course, are currently flying under the leadership of Ange Postecoglou. The unbeaten hosts will probably be knocked off top spot before the weekend’s out but they’ll know exactly what they’ll need to retake pole position in these early stages of the title race.
Spurs haven’t lost at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since May and although, traditionally, they’ve struggled against the Blues, not many pundits are predicting an away win in this fixture. Chelsea do, at least, come in to the game off the back of a win – against Blackburn Rovers in the Carabao Cup – but they looked lacklustre in last week’s defeat against Brentford, a result that left them 11th in the Premier League.
🏴 FA Cup: Charlton vs. Cray Valley Paper Mills
This weekend also sees the first round played in the English FA Cup. The world’s oldest national competition is now in its 143rd season and, as is typical, there are some fantastic storylines to be found among the ties.
Not least Sunday’s meeting between EFL League One side Charlton Athletic and Cray Valley Paper Mills, who play semi-professionally at the eighth tier of English football. Originally a works team literally representing the local paper mill, Cray Valley are based just four miles away from Charlton Athletic and despite the fact that proximity means there are likely fans who follow both clubs, they couldn’t be further apart in terms of footballing stature.
This is a fairytale draw for Cray Valley who have already had to win through five rounds of qualifiers to reach this stage of the competition (including three replays!), and a fixture that many fans around the country will be keeping an eye on. There is also the added intrigue that the side include Kyrell Lisbie, the son of former player Kevin Lisbie, a striker who made his name during a 10 year spell at Charlton before also turning out for Cray Valley towards the end of his career.
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Cover Image from IMAGO