By Tim Stannard

PSG in chance to clinch Ligue Un title

Mixed emotions and then some for PSG boss, Unai Emery, on Friday although some of them might be a huge sense of relief.

On a weekend when his club can reclaim the French league title to make it two slabs of silverware won in a week, the stories in the French capital are that the Spaniard’s days are well and truly numbered at PSG.

The name of the former Borussia Dortmund boss, Thomas Tuchel, has squeezed into the frame to take over at the Parc de Princes, as well has being linked with the soon to be vacant Chelsea job. Perhaps the German will be able to use the Channel Tunnel to do both roles? Times are hard and the rent has to be paid.

But before condemning poor Unai Emery, whose team actually put up a better fight that Juventus in the Champions League, let’s give him some love on what could be a big weekend for the former Sevilla boss.

PSG are in action on Friday away at Saint Etienne – live on beIN SPORTS at 2:40PM ET / 11:40AM PT – and should PSG win that game and then Monaco lose at home to Nantes on Saturday – live on beIN SPORTS from 10:55AM ET – then PSG will be champions of France for the fifth time in six years.

That could well kick off quite the PSG party and then will inevitably lead to more good news – Neymar speeding off to a private plane at the first pop of the champagne corks in Paris. Neymar would kick himself – despite that hurting a bit – if he missed that French fiesta.

Doomsday at the bottom of La Liga

The French are not hogging the soccer limelight on Friday. Heck, no. La Liga grinds into a gear with a game that may not sound overly appetizing but is actually one of the most crucial of the weekend.

Two formerly big beasts of the Spanish league, Deportivo (led by Clarence Seedorf) and Malaga, are going toe-to-toe, and a defeat for either – especially bottom-of-the-table Malaga – could ultimately bring forth the doom and despair of relegation. That gets underway on beIN SPORTS CONNECT at 2:50PM ET / 11:50AM PT.

The Bundesliga is offering up Werder Bremen against Hannover, while one of the surprises of the season, Istanbul Basaksahir has the chance to move to the top of the Turkish Superlig with a win over Yeni Malatyaspor. MLS is also on duty too with New England Revolution taking on the Montreal Impact.

Tune into the XTRA from 7PM ET / 4PM PT for the best of the action from around the world.

Pep holds derby day cards to chest

PSG will not be the only team potentially clinching this weekend as the champions of England and Germany could be decided.

And it is the affair in England that is the most intriguing. Manchester City can win the Premier League title in their home stadium by defeating Manchester United, an enjoyable concept for many reasons. However, City are in a ‘bigger fish to fry’ dilemma, caught between two Champions League quarter-final ties against Liverpool and 3-0 down.

So, does Pep Guardiola play what constitutes a scratch side – still very good – with an eye on next week, or go for broke, get the title done and dusted and boost the team morale a tad?

Speaking on Friday and Guardiola was not giving too much away on his plans. “We have three massive games coming up - United, Liverpool and Spurs - we have to see the players’ condition. We have training later and we will see later. We will prepare the team to win the game.” You can see what former Manchester United goalkeeper, Gary Bailey, thinks should happen on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.

Meanwhile, Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp, has condemned the violence which saw the Manchester City team bus being attacked outside of Anfield ahead of last Wednesday’s clash. "You give people the opportunity to do something good and because of a few idiots it may never happen again,” was the lament from the German.

Tigers claims that still in Masters chase

Sport is an unpredictable beast in the same way that NCIS is not. But it seems fairly certain that Sergio Garcia will not stage a successful defense of his Masters title, after scoring 13 on hole 15 at Augusta in the first round, having fallen foul of a lake five times. That leaves the Spaniard nine-over, 15 shots behind Jordan Spieth at the top of the leaderboard, with the American holding a two-shot lead at six-under.

And in what is perhaps a record this year, the words ‘Tiger Woods’ have not appeared in a summary of The Masters until the second paragraph. The self-declared ‘walking miracle’ had a sluggish start to his return to the tournament but finished strongly on the back-nine to end up with a one over par for the round. “I'm back in this championship. There's a lot of holes to be played,” boomed Woods, who will be one of the last to tee off on Friday with his grouping set to don the slacks and get underway at 1:27PM ET.

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