Photo: Marco Luzzani/Getty Images
Lazio – Milan: Friday, March 1, 10:45 p.m.
Intrigue: will the Milanese catch up to Juventus?
Juventus has been competing with a team from Milan all season, but is now 12 points clear. Therefore, another competitor appeared, already in the fight for silver. Milan moved within four points of Juve. The only thing that remains ahead is the meeting with Lazio, which is in fact close to Bayern’s passage to the Champions League playoffs. The Romans are clinging to the European Cup zone and will focus as much as possible on the result; Otherwise, there is a chance that Atalanta and Roma will go too far. And it is not even necessary to clarify that the lacials do not like to give in to their neighbors. Furthermore, Milan recently gave points to Monza (2-4) and Atalanta (1-1). Is another surprise coming?
Photo: Christian Liewig – Corbis/Getty Images
PSG – Monaco: Friday, March 1, 11:00 p.m.
Intrigue: Will Golovin score again against the Parisians?
The matches against PSG are the most important for all French teams. When else will you test yourself against heroes like Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Marquinhos and many others? Alexander Golovin, by the way, is very successful in this type of matchup: he scored (twice) and gave an assist. Why should Russian not distinguish itself again? Furthermore, this season the Parisians are playing simply for fun, as they have no competition in Ligue 1 (+11 points from second place). It is not difficult to understand who will tune in better, PSG with Monaco or Monaco with PSG. And the Monegasques have plenty of motivation in the tournament: they are in a very tight group of medal contenders (four teams are separated by five points). It will be interesing.
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Seville – Real Sociedad: Saturday, March 2, 4:00 p.m.
Intrigue: will there be something that can please Zakharyan?
Arsen’s adaptation to Spain is extremely difficult. The Russian has regular playing time, but in 714 minutes in the league he has only provided one assist. And yet, he doesn’t score any goals. At the same time, Sociedad is not on the right track: it has only won every tournament once in its last eight attempts. Perhaps the recovered Oyarzabal will correct the negative streak: he just came out and immediately scored against Mallorca in the Copa del Rey semi-finals. However, this was not enough for the pass. We are waiting for feats from Arsen and Mikel. Although they won’t have it easy with Sevilla: they lost to Real Madrid on the last day of the league and they want to improve. This is exactly the thing about a home game: it’s easier to do it in front of your own fans.
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Valencia – Real Madrid: Saturday, March 2, 11:00 p.m.
Intrigue: will Madrid maintain its advantage in La Liga?
Real is the champion. Carlo Ancelotti’s team is getting closer to this title: at the beginning of March, Girona is six points behind and Barcelona is eight. But here is a case in which victory is much more important for the enemy: Valencia will play the first match after a terrible fire in the city, which claimed the lives of 10 people. The club invited the firefighters, doctors and police officers who helped put out the fire to Mestalla, as well as the caretaker of the burned house, who notified the neighbors of the disaster. In such a situation, the players will be even more loaded, so Jude Bellingham and company will have to work hard to take the three points. The Englishman, by the way, has recovered from an injury and should strengthen his game from the bench.
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Cologne – Bayer Leverkusen: Sunday, March 3, 17:30
Intrigue: Will the sensational Bayer achieve another victory?
Leverkusen is in perfect order: 19 wins, four draws and 0 (!) defeats in the Bundesliga. When has Bayern not done it? The difference with the fallen hegemonic power is eight points. But how many times has this happened? It seems that the Munich team was left without the championship and suddenly the competitor withdraws. In this sense, every Bayer match is incredibly interesting. Even if the opponent is not top-tier Cologne or a similar team, an even smaller lead can be lost in the remaining 11 rounds. Especially when you’re being chased by the champion of the last 11 years. Yes, that’s the magic of numbers.
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Manchester City – Manchester United: Sunday, March 3, 6:30 p.m.
Intrigue: will the “devils” stop Pep’s team?
Probably the most talked about game of the weekend. Although Manchester United has not been the same for a long time and is far from even being in the top four (seven points behind), this does not make the Manchester derby any less important. It’s always good for City to beat their hated neighbours, no matter where they are. In the last personal match, Guardiola’s boys swept Old Trafford (3-0) and I don’t even want to remember what they will do to United at home (6-3). The injury to Rasmus Hoylund is also out of place here, without whom Manchester United barely managed to beat Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup (1-0). Marcus Rashford at the center of attack is a fun attraction. But what happens if he suddenly shoots at the right moment?
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Atlético de Madrid – Betis: Sunday, March 3, 6:15 p.m.
Intrigue: will the “colchoneros” defend their place in the championship?
Atlético has not been doing well lately: if the narrow defeat against Inter was still legible, here are two failures against Athletic in the Spanish Cup (0-1, 0-3), a defeat against Sevilla (0 -1) and a draw with Almería (2-2) – not too much. And all this happened in February. Diego Simeone’s team runs the risk of falling out of the top 4, which even sounds ridiculous. Their recent rivals Baskonia are only three points behind. The “mattress boys” will have to fight in the next round against Betis, who this year has only lost two games in the league. And then the last time was more than a month ago in Barcelona. So who’s the favorite here now?
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Naples – Juventus: Sunday, March 3, 10:45 p.m.
Intrigue: Has Napoli finally returned?
At first, the Neapolitans only won one game in the last six in all tournaments. And then they took it and beat Sassuolo by a difference of five goals (6-1). Yes, the level of the opponent was not cosmic, but we saw the combination of Khvicha and Osimhen as if it were the best example of the championship season: the Georgians scored 2+1, and the Nigerians scored 3+1. The return came just in time, because there is a confrontation with Juventus ahead. But what if this is just a blip in a boring season, where the champion has become average? Tests carried out by Turin residents should answer this question. Although Juve hasn’t been that good in recent games (one win in five games).
Photo: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images
Athletic – Barcelona: Sunday, March 3, 11:00 p.m.
Intrigue: has Barça really returned to the title race?
The blue maroons are on fire: after the mega defeat, Villarreal (3-5) added 13 points out of a possible 15, scoring 13 goals. If this pace continues until the end of the season, Barcelona will be able to achieve not only second place, but also first. But Athletic is also very good: it is realizing its dream of qualifying for the Champions League, it is only three points behind Atlético and it recently destroyed Simeone’s team in the Cup (4-0 on aggregate). It was 3-0 in San Mamés and the elimination of another favorite will hardly cause a sensation. The result of this match is completely unpredictable.
Photo: Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images
Inter Miami – Orlando City: Sunday, March 3, 0:30
Intrigue: will the former Catalan stars surprise Inter again?
The MLS regular season has begun and Inter Miami’s star-studded schedule is attracting more and more attention. Well, how could it be any other way when Messi, Suárez, Alba and Busquets play on the team? Thanks to the assists from Leo and Luis, Real Salt Lake was defeated (2-0), and with the help of the Argentine’s goal from Jordi’s pass, the Interistas tied with the Los Angeles Galaxy (1-1) in added time . . So the Catalan classics are still in perfect order. Orlando City will give them a new test on the night from Sunday to Monday of former Atalanta striker Muriel. Do we expect more exploits from Inter’s stars?
