Can't Miss: European Football Weekend Bundle
From Italy, to France and Spain. This weekend we have a great European tour in store with Juventus facing Milan, Barcelona traveling to La Coruña and Lorient hosting the wounded PSG.
FRIDAY
A timeless classic in Serie A as Milan look to take Juve down
Like a haggard-looking Gerard Butler being dragged before the media to promote another White House / London / Florida has fallen-style nonsense, Max Allegri was on selling duty on Thursday looking ahead to the following day’s clash between Juventus and Milan.
Except, on this occasion the Juventus boss had plenty of decent football fodder to sell as opposed to hyping rehashes that even Vin Diesel would turn down. Irrespective of where both teams are in the league table at any given time – on this occasion, Juventus first and Milan 17 points behind – this match-up between Italy’s magnificent names is always a must-watch affair. Indeed, the clash earlier this season was early evidence that Juve were all too mortal after a winner from Manuel Locatelli.
Allegri looked at Barcelona’s remarkable comeback against PSG as proof that there were no certainties in football both in Serie A and the Champions League, seeing the Old Lady taking the visit of Milan very seriously indeed in the 164th meeting of the two teams in the league. “It’s always well balanced,” noted the Juve man.
SUNDAY
Barcelona on high alert for post PSG slump
Not unsurprisingly, the Barcelona collective decided to party like it was 1999 on Wednesday night after the PSG Lazarus effort in the Champions League in the Camp Nou. However, the side was back in training the following day trying to avoid a huge hangover in La Liga on Sunday.
With good reason. Over the past three weeks, Barcelona have clawed their way back from the well of despair and now sit atop La Liga, all be it, one match less than Real Madrid. Sunday’s Deportivo game might not necessarily be the cakewalk it was a couple of weeks ago, after the club appointed Pepe Mel as the new coach to reverse a slide and to see the Galicians unbeaten in three with five points from nine.
Madrid are unlikely to give up the chance of winning a first league title in five years easily meaning that Barcelona can ill afford any kind of distraction to a renewed pursuit of a treble. Deportivo in rainy La Coruna might fit that dangerous bill for a club on a sporting high but ripe for bringing back down to earth.
LIGUE UN: LORIENT V PSG – Live on beIN SPORTS CONNECT from 3:45PM ET / 12:45AM PT
PSG need to bounce back against Ligue Un’s bottom dwellers
A mere week or two ago, this clash might not have been the most tantalizing in the schedules…imperious PSG slayers of Barcelona against the worst team in the division. But now this match is the highly-rattled PSG, chokers against Barcelona against the worst team in the division. And like a town in Wisconsin that advertises itself as the home of the world’s largest coat-hanger, this Ligue Un game is completely unmissable.
If the guillotine has not been let loose on Unai Emery after the Camp Nou calamity by the time Friday comes around, then the PSG boss is going to have to turn some frowns upside down sharpish after throwing away a 4-0 lead in the Champions League as the Ligue Un title is now the bare minimum for PSG this season. But there are two other contenders for that title and neither Nice nor Monaco show any sign of slowing down as the season in France screams through the month of March.
Bottom of the table, Lorient, will be needing to use PSG’s state of shock against the visitors as the hosts have just the one point from the past five games to leave them six from safety. However, as this week proved in a heck of a year in sport, expect the unexpected.