. England: chic, here’s the shock!
Sunday’s poster (5:00 p.m.) at Anfield between the current triumphant leader Liverpool (31 pts) and their struggling runner-up, Manchester City (23 pts), already looks like a first final for the title.
A chasm of eleven points would open under the feet of the “Citizens” if they lost to the “Reds”, crowned for the last time in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic and Mancunian hegemony.
However, Manchester City is only the shadow of the giant who crushed the Premier League (six titles in seven seasons). Pep Guardiola’s team is reeling under the weight of injuries and has not won since October 26, an eternity on its scale.
Behind her, Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton have only one point less before facing Aston Villa (Sunday at 2:30 p.m.), West Ham (Saturday at 6:30 p.m.) and Southampton (sold at 9:00 p.m.) respectively.
On Sunday, the new Manchester United coach, Ruben Amorim, will experience his first match at Old Trafford in the league, against Everton. The Portuguese only brought back one point from his trip to Ipswich (1-1) last weekend for his big debut.
. Spain: mandatory rebound for Mbappé and Real
After its third defeat in five days of the Champions League at Liverpool (2-0), Real Madrid, reigning European and Spanish champion, and its star striker Kylian Mbappé must get back on track on Sunday in La Liga against Getafe (4:15 p.m.).
The Merengue (2nd, 30 points with a match late), back four points behind FC Barcelona (1st, 34 points), are facing a devastating injury crisis (Carvajal, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Tchouaméni, Camavinga, Militao).
The crisis is brewing for Mbappé, transparent at Liverpool, and his coach Carlo Ancelotti, helpless to revive his team.
Barça travels on Saturday (2 p.m.) to Las Palmas (17th, 12 points) after two missteps against Real Sociedad (1-0) and Vigo (2-2) in the league. Spanish prodigy Lamine Yamal, injured in the ankle, could return to the group.
Antoine Griezmann’s Atlético Madrid (3rd, 29 points) is aiming for a seventh consecutive victory in all competitions at promoted Valladolid, bottom red (20th, 9 points) on Saturday (9 p.m.).
. Germany: a Klassiker still awaited in Dortmund
Leader of the Bundesliga with an initial gap widened over the competition, Bayern travels to Dortmund on Saturday (6:30 p.m.) for the Klassiker of German football, one of the most anticipated matches of the season across the Rhine.
The Munich residents scored a seventh consecutive victory against Paris SG on Tuesday without conceding a goal (1-0) and can relegate Borussia to 10 points (29 against 19) after 11 days.
Nuri Sahin’s players, fourth in the Champions League with 12 points out of 15 possible, drag their inability to win away from home (four defeats and a draw) into the Bundesliga like a ball and chain, while in their Westfalenstadion, they won their first six matches.
By taking only a small point in the last three championship matches, RB Leipzig (20 points) gave up its runner-up place to Frankfurt (23), and will absolutely have to react against Wolfsburg (11th, 15 pts), Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Despite staffing problems and injured players, Bayer Leverkusen had two victories against Heidenheim (5-2) and Salzburg (5-0) in the Champions League. Xabi Alonso’s men, fourth in the Bundesliga, will confirm their renewed form in Berlin against the Union (Saturday 3:30 p.m.), before traveling to Munich for the clash of the round of 16 of the Cup.
. Italy: Atalanta and Fiorentina shake up the established order
Atalanta Bergamo and Fiorentina, five consecutive victories each in the league and carried by the two top scorers in Serie A, the Bergamo Mateo Retegui, 12 goals, and the Florentin Moise Kean, 9 goals, have a new opportunity to shake up the order established in Italy during the 14th day, opposed respectively to Roma in full decline and Inter who are resisting.
Atalanta can legitimately hope to consolidate its place as runner-up to Napoli and further push Claudio Ranieri’s Roma, 12th, defeated four times in their last five league meetings.
For Fiorentina, 4th, the task at home (Sunday 6:00 p.m.) will be more difficult against Inter, 3rd (28 points each like Atalanta and Lazio).
The Interists, without being flamboyant, demonstrate unfailing solidity, but they will have to do without their French defender, Benjamin Pavard, injured in the hamstring against Leipzig in C1 and absent for several weeks.
The Neapolitan leader travels to the Torino field (Sunday 3:00 p.m.) while Juve goes to Lecce, 15th (Sunday 8:45 p.m.), to try to board the wagon of Napoli’s pursuers.
Par Le360 (with AFP)
11/29/2024 at 2:37 p.m.
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