Usually I try to hide the weekend number one match to entice you to go below the fold, but nothing is going to overshadow Sunday's match at Old Trafford. (Photo: Getty Images)

View full size photo »

It's a great soccer weekend if you follow the European club game.  It almost justifies the pre-dawn wake-ups here on the West Coast, but since when do we need justification?

France, Germany and Italy see multiple important match-ups pitting teams features teams in European (if not title) competition.  Russia sees its first huge battle of the young season, and the title race in Greece will either be clarified or tremendously complicated.

There's silverware to be given out in Portugal, playoff qualifiers to be decided in Belgium, and the top two meeting in the Netherlands.

All this means ... I can't decide.  I'm tempted to combine multiple games into each top ten spot and use the same counting system that Peter King used to use for Ten Things I Think I Think (which was never ten things, one of the reasons I stopped reading that column).

But if I'm not going to make the hard decisions, how I can advise you on what to watch?

So it is with much pain and apologies to matches like PAOK-AEK in Greece, Trabszonpor-Galatasaray in Turkey, and Hamburg-Schalke in Germany that I present this week's Ten Matches to Watch, European edition:

#10 - Mechelen versus Zulta-Waregem, Sunday, Belgian Juliper League - It is the last weekend of the regular season in Beligum.  Zulta-Waregem holds on to the last playoff spot but have let Standard Liège cling to life.  Now only two point ahead of the defending champions, they need a win to ensure qualifying, as a draw and a Standard win over third place Gent means Standard goes through.  But in Belgium, the points you start the second, playoff phase with are a factor of your regular, qualification stage points (one half), so Gent still has reason to play.

#9 - Palmero versus Internazionale, Saturday, Italian Serie A - Inter's mid-week triumph over Chelsea has masked their troubles in Serie A, but having to go to Sicily for the second week in a row, the Nerazzurri will be hard pressed to get three points against the league's fourth place team.  As a result of their last trip to Sicily - last Friday's 3-1 loss at Catalia - Inter will be without suspended Sulley Muntari.  Regardless, Inter has the players to get the win, and being able to shift focus (temporarily) from Champions League could help.  If not, Milan's Sunday match at the San Siro against Napoli could relegate Inter to second.

#8 - Bordeaux versus Lille, Sunday, French Ligue 1 - Though they have a game in hand, Bordeaux is only two points ahead of fourth place Lille, who may be without their best player, Gervinho.  Bordeaux has one win in six in Ligue 1, but like Inter, could possibly improve their domestic form with a small break from Champions League.  Meanwhile, Montpelier (second place, even on points) and Auxerre (third, one point back) have matches they're expected to win, and I have this voice in my head telling me there may be another important match this weekend in France.

I'll look into that while you move on to ...

#7 - Borussia Dortmund versus Bayer Leverkusen, Saturday, German Bundesliga - Two of the NRW clubs meet a week after Bayer arguably saved their season - rebounding from their first loss and ending their three match winless streak with a convincing 4-2 win over Hamburg.  That loss dropped HSV into fourth behind Dortmund, whose consecutive wins over Monchengladbach and Bochum have vaulted the Black Yellows to the head of the race for Europa League spots.  The top three of Leverkusen, Schalke and Bayern Munich are out of reach, but with teams like Hamburg, Bremen, Wolfsburg and Stuttgart jockeying for (what should be) three spots, Dortmund needs to capitalize on all their home matches.

#6 - Zenit St. Petersburg versus Spartak Moscow, Sunday, Russian Premier Liga - Zenit got off to a decent start to the Luciano Spalletti era, winning 1-0 last week at Krylya Sovetov.  This week, they get one of the other teams expected to compete for the league title when they host Spartak Moscow.  This is the second time right wingers Vladimir Bystrov has faced Spartak since controversially shifting (back) to Zenit in the summer.  Far from worrying about that, Valeri Karpin's men need to get points after suffering an upset loss to Dinamo Moscow last week.

More, after the jump, and while I'll go ahead and do the poll this week, I'm assuming any answer besides Manchester United-Liverpool will have very good reasons, which I expect you to provide in the comments.  Feel free to be creative.

#5 - PSV Eindhoven versus Twente, Saturday, Dutch Eredevisie - Twente reclaimed the lead in the Eredevisie last month, having briefly given it to PSV.  That change was short-lived, as PSV has won only one in four, a disastrous stretch in a league where Twente has only lost one and has gotten a win in 22 of 27 matches.  With seven matches left in the season, his is one of the few places where Twente might drop points.  PSV must win.  If they don't, the title is Twente's, as they have also finished their slate with Ajax (one point back of PSV).

#4 - Panathinaikos versus Olympiacos, Sunday, Greek Super League - The biggest derby in Greece often has title ramifications.  That's no different this week, as with a win on Sunday, Panathinaikos can put an end to the defending champions' hope to hold the title.  The Greens are seven clear of the Reds.  A win would not only finish off the holders with three matches remaining, but it would also nuder PAOK - five points back, but with a touch match versus fourth place AEK.  For the Shamrock, it would be their first title since 2004 and end a run of five straight titles for their arch rivals.

#3 - Porto versus Benfica, Sunday, Portuguese League Cup - The holders and leaders in the Liga Sagres take on the six time defending league champions as the domestic league takes a weekend off for the League Cup final.  The League Cup is a new event in Portugal, only in its third year and not having the profile of the Taça de Portugal, in which Porto is still alive (semifinals).  Benfica played a full squad in Marseille on Thursday, whereas Porto has not played since last weekend.  To get here, Benfica used an early red card to Sporting CP's João Periera to race to a 4-1 win while Porto a late Mariano Gonzalez goal to eliminate Academica, 1-0.

#2 - Marseille versus Lyon, Sunday, French Ligue 1 - When these two teams met in Lyon earlier this season, the final was 5-5, with five goals in the match's last twelve minutes, with a late own goal from Jeremy Toulalan giving Marseille a point.  Lyon's defending has improved since then (as the world saw, against Real Madrid), but Marseille has also improved, finally finding a measure of consistency under Didier Deschamps.  It's an important match for each side was a loss would not only have the lose points to the other and at least one of Bordeaux or Lille, but also means they will be behind what have always been their two biggest rivals for the league title.

#1 - Manchester United versus Liverpool, Sunday, English Premier League - If I'm Rafa Benitez, I walk into the dressing room on Sunday, draw a big "19" on the wall, pause, and then put a big "X" through it.  If anybody on the team does not understand the reference - to Manchester United, with their last three league titles, having drawn even with Liverpool for most top division titles in English history, with 18 - then scratch them from the team sheet.

Let me know, below, but is there another rivalry in European football more important as it concerns on-the-pitch issues?  There are local derbies, sectarian derbies, even political rivalries.  But when it comes to pure soccer rivalries, this might be up there with Barcelona-Real Madrid, and even that has a strong sectarian element.