In something I hope to be a regular feature, I will be crafting this article interactively.
While there was not a ton of feedback during last week's interactive European club football preview, there was enough to make the process a little-more fun for me. That's not to say I didn't have fun with the previous previews, but for a guy who guy "this" to interact with more soccer fans, every little bit helps.
If you have leagues, matches, or angles about which you think others should know, use the comments in this or the Americas preview post, to be posted in the minutes follow this publication.
But as it concerns Europe, we start with what's becoming the most compelling race on the continent: The German Bundesliga.
Perhaps the continuing battle of Manchester United and Chelsea, now in their sixth season of control atop the Premiership, would make England the headline act. I concede: the combination of the battle's competitiveness and the attention paid to England justifies leading this list.
But six points in Germany's favor:
- Schalke 04 had made this a three team race a little more so than Arsenal has in England,
- While a razor thin line separates Chelsea and Manchester United, only goals differentiate Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich,
- Leverkusen - like Barcelona and PSV - has still yet to lose,
- Bayern Munich is playing better than either Chelsea or Manchester United (well, perhaps not United - discuss!),
- I've always had reason to lead with England, but not, I feel like engaging people regarding another league: die Bundesliga.
- No Premier League this weekend. Insert sardonic smiley face here.
Germany: Last week, the top three (Leverkusen, Bayern, Schalke) were on the road against low
er-table competition, and only München (45, 2nd) escape unscathed. Leverkusen (45, 1st) and Schalke (42, 3rd) both drew. Now, the three return home, with München having the biggest obstacle to three points. They welcome Borussia Dortmund (35, 5th) to the Allainz Arena, while Leverkusen hosts Wolfsburg (25, 12th) and Schalke hosts Köln (25, 11th).
One other match of note: Hamburg (36, 4th) visits a Stuttgart side (28, 10th) undefeated in seven, on a five match winning streak.
Credit to Christian Gross.
England: It's
an FA Cup weekend in England, meaning no Premier League matches, though a number of Premiership sides are active in the country's premier cup competition. Chelsea hosts Championship-side Cardiff City in Saturday's early match. Portsmouth is at Southamption for a highly-anticipated South Coast Derby. Birmingham City is at second division Derby. On Sunday, Fulhma host fourth-division Notts Country, while Aston Villa goes to Crystal Palace.
There are two matches pitting Premiership foes. On Saturday, Stoke City goes to Eastlands to take on Manchester City, while on Sunday, Tottenham Hotspur goes west to Bolton.
Spain: Barcelona is five points in front of Real Madrid, eight ahead of Valencia, five more points ahead of Mallorca in fourth. Not much jockeying for position atop the Primera.
Of the three, Barcelona has the biggest weekend challenge, going to the Vincente Calderon to face an Atlético Madrid (24, 12th) side newly minted as Copa del Rey finalists (where they'll face Sevilla). Barcelona is stuggling to find a back line, thanks to suspensions to Gerard Pique and Rafa Marquez and injuries suffered by Daniel Alves, Dmitro Chrygrynskiy, Eric Ábidal and Yaya Touré. Healthy defenders: Carles Puyol, Gabriel Milito, Maxwell.
And then there's the little problem of Barcelona having lost at the Vincente Calderon last season.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid and Valencia have two, relatively easy road trips: to Xerez (for Madrid) and Sporting Gijón.
The most compelling battles: a Villareal side on the brink of losing control of their season (one win in sox, coaching change) hosting Athletic Bilbao; Sevilla hosting an Osasuna side that will force them to be creative through the midfield, a season-long problem for the Rojiblancos.
Also of note from Spain: Monday night matches start this week, with Tenerife hosting Mallorca at 3 p.m. EST.
Italy: Internazionale's mix-week draw at Parma puts them nine up on Roma, the Wednesday result taking back their match-in-hand. In the late match on Sunday, Inter goes to fourth place Napoli, where the Partenopei have not lost in league since last May. Ahead of a mid-week Coppa Italia match, Inter is starting a congested stretch, with UEFA Champions League about to re-start.
Napoli is only one point ahead of Palermo, who play in the weekend's other featured fixture: A trip to the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. It is no exaggeration to say that AS Roma is one of the better teams in Europe right now. Aside from the five or six tip-top sides, it's difficult to find a club playing better soccer.
Free-falling Juventus hosts Genoa on Sunday, trying to break their five match winless streak.
France: Bordeaux was rolled last weekend at Stade Rennes, 4-2. Mid-week, they were bounced from the Coupe de France from Monaco, losing 2-0 at home. In Sunday's late match they host 16th place Saint-Etienne who are one week removed from a 3-0 win over that same Monaco team.
Anybody who knows anything about the transitive property of soccer scores knows that rather than indicating a 5-0 win for Saint-Etienne, those result tell us Bordeaux has to (paradoxically) win this match. That's just how things work.
The danger with Bordeaux: Even when they are going well, they are usually winning 1-0 (a result that's occurred ten times this season). Now off their game, they are exploring at thin margin that speaks to the possible difference between winning 1-0 and 2-0. Yes, all wins are worth three points. No, not all wins tell us the same thing about the team's future performance.
In Gonzalo Bergessio and Emmanuel Riviere, Saint-Etienne has two players capable of getting a single goal which, given how Girondins is apt to play, could be decisive.
Elsewhere, second place Montpelier look destined for three points (the gap between them and Bordeaux) when hosting last-place Grenoble, Marseille is at Monaco (5th and 6th place, even on points), while Auxerre and Stade Rennes engage in another battle with European implications.
Netherlands: League-leading PSV goes to SC Heracles on Saturday to face a side that, last weekend dramatically snapped their three match winless streak, earning a 4-3 home victory over Groningen, scoring the last three goals of the match over the final eighteen minutes, snapping Groningen's five match unbeaten streak in the process. Groningen earned a home draw against Twenteon January 24, a testament to their scalp-grabbing credentials.
Both second place Twente and Ajax have manageable away fixtures Saturday, visiting Vitesse and Heerenveen, respectively.
Portugal: Last week, Braga closed the gap between them and first-place Benfica with their 3-1, Monday win over last-place Belenenses. What was more surprising: Benfica drawing at Vitoria Setúbal (allowing Braga to
gain ground) or Braga allowing their seventh goal of the season (to Belenenses, who have scored only nine)?
This week Belenenses goes to Benfica while Braga has a tough match, at home with Marítimo (25, 6th).
Braga still has a match-in-hand on Benfica, who will be re-starting Europa League next week, where they will be one of the favorites.
Belgium: Anderlecht is still up eight over Club Brugge, who is up five on Gent. Spain has nothing on the Juliper League.
The battle is in the fourth through ninth spots, where only the top three will get into the playoffs.
Fourth place Zulte-Waregem (37 points) - coming off a draw to Brugge - hosts eight place Germinal Beerschot (33 points), who snapped a five match losing streak with last weekend's draw at Westerlo (25, 12th).
Fifth place Sint-Truiden has the weekend off, originally scheduled to play the now out-of-business Excelsior Mouscron.
Sixth place Standard Lìege (35 points) hosts Westerlo on Sunday, while seventh place Kortrijk (34 points) is at last-place Roeselare on Saturday.
Scotland: Rangers have bought into this 2010 European paradigm - being put forth by Internazionale, Barcelona, Anderlect - that races need not be close, holding an eight point lead over Celtic, back into single digits after Celtic won (2-0 over Hearts) while Rangers were drawn at Motherwell. This weekend, Rangers host third-place Hibs while Celtic goes to an Aberdeen side that looks likely to start a weakened side ahead of a mid-week cup match.
Turkey: Because this was Galatasary's weekend against Ankaraspor, a club that was disqual
ified from the SuperLïg, they are off this weekend. In the mean time, first place Fenerbahçe is at relegation-embattled Manisaspor.
On Monday, in the match day's big fixture, third-place Bursaspor hosts sixth-place Tranzonspor, where only six point separates the four teams fighting for Turkey's two Europa League spots.
Those other two clubs: fourth place Kayserispor, visiting Denizlispor; fifth place Besiktas, the defending champions, at Gaziantepspor.
Greece: Panathinaikos's lead over Olympiakos is only six points, but they could still be included in the league of distancing leaders. PAOK is only two points behind Olympiakos.
This weekend, Panathinaikos hosts ninth-place Kavala, whose defense will pose a challenge for Djibril Cissé and the Frenchman's 17 goals scored. Olympiakos goes to seventh-place Asteras Tripolis, while PAOK is at relegation-battling PAK Gianna (13th place).
Switzerland: Fresh off their loss to second place Basel, Young Boys hosts third place Luzem, whom they lead by nine points. Finishing the match-ups of the league's top four, Basel is at Neuchâtel Xamax, who are winless in seven.
by Richard Farley on Feb 12, 2010 11:03 AM EST
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