Mitch Freeley

The Bundesliga returns after its winter break along with a host of top games in France and Spain, as European football swings back into life after its festive break. As ever we look at the 5 things to look out for in Europe in our regular column. 

The Bundesliga is back, and league leaders Bayern Munich are kicking off the second half of the season with a tricky away encounter at Bayer Leverkusen. The Bavarian giants currently have an eleven point lead at the top of the table and will be targeting a victory to further bolster their title ambitions. Jupp Heynckes confirmed that he will be without the pair of Robert Lewandowski and Mats Hummels who picked up knocks during the clubs winter tour to Qatar. 

As for fourth-placed Leverkusen, they have a young side crammed with attacking talent and Heynckes revealed that he is wary of their threat heading into the game. “Leon Bailey has made good progress and is scoring goals and Julian Brandt is a talented player. But it's not only the two of them; Kai Havertz is also an outstanding talent, their defence is strong. Leverkusen is a convincing team. They’ve gone 12 Bundesliga games without defeat.” 

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, fifth-placed RB Leipzig takes on second-placed Schalke in what promises to be an interesting encounter. The sides are only separated by two points and a home win for Leipzig will put them firmly back into Champions League contention. Much of the focus will be on midfielder Leon Goretzka, who has been subject to intense transfer speculation at the minute. The German international midfielder will have to put links with Bayern Munich to one side and focus on helping the Royal Blues qualify for the Champions League since the 2013/2014 season. 

In Spain and the focus will be on Real Madrid and Barcelona on how they perform after their midweek games in the Copa Del Ray. The pressure is firmly on Real Madrid and Zinedine Zidane, after their 2-2 draw with Numancia at home. Despite comfortably winning the first leg 5-0, Madrid’s second string stuttered against the Segunda side which will be a course for concern for the Real Madrid fans. Los Blancos will be looking to return to winning ways in the league when they face Villarreal on Saturday evening. 

With Barcelona, they are flying high at the top of the table and have further strengthened their side with the signing of Yerry Mina and club record purchase Philippe Coutinho.  It’s unlikely that both will feature for their sides in their away encounter against Real Sociedad. The Catalan giants are currently on a four-game winning streak in the league and will be looking for more of the same when they make the trip to San Sebastián. 

Finally in France and runaway league leaders, Paris Saint Germain head to FC Nates on Sunday evening. The Parisians have only lost once in the league this season and have a commanding nine-point lead at the top of the table. They will be taking on a Nates side who have improved dramatically under the tutelage of Italian boss Claudio Ranieri. The former Leicester boss will be relishing the chance to test himself against PSG and could pull off a shock result against Unai Emery’s side. 

You can watch all of this weekends action live and exclusively on beIN SPORTS CONNECT.