Ten Matches to Watch - Europe

I'm not pretending that you are going to watch all these matches.  I'm not even going to pretend that you can watch all these matches.  But come Sunday night if you have time to hit a Google search for some matches, I'd recommended reading up on these:

10.  Chelsea versus Stoke, England's FA Cup - With their struggles, the Blues' best chance for silverware becomes retaining the FA Cup, though it they don't play better than they did during last week's loss to Manchester City, Stoke could have Chelsea.  The Blues are still without Michael Essien, Petr Cech, Deco and Yuri Zhirkov, and that's in addition to long-term injuries to Ashley Cole and José Bosingwa.  Where Chelsea's missing their quickest and most athletic players, a win for Stoke doesn't look that far-fetched.

9.  Benfica versus Paços de Ferriera, Portuguese Liga Sagres - After some stumbles from S.C. Braga, who have been wrestling with Benfica atop the Liga the entire season, the Eagles after alone in first and now have the best defensive record to go with a goal scoring rate that outpaces the next-most-proflic club by more than a half-a-goal per match.  Paços de Ferreira is on the edge of European qualification, sitting in sixth place, unbeaten in seven league matches.

8.  Unirea Urziceni versus Steaua Bucuresti, Romanian Liga - Now out of Europe, Unirea can turn their attention to the league.  Their first obstacle, Steaua Bucuresti coming off a good draw last week against league leading CFR Cluj.  Steaua features the league's leading scorer, Greek attacker Pantelis Kapetanos.  Each team sits on 35 points, tied with second place Timisoara for the Liga's final Champions League spot.  In Romania, the league's second through seventh place teams are separated by three points.

7.  Metalurh Donetsk versus Shakhtar Donetsk, Ukrainian Premier League -  The Ukrainian league is back from a long break, and while most avid followers of European club football would be classified as "addicts" if they could name players from Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk, there are other very good clubs in the league.  Metalist Kharkiv and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk are worth your time, as is Metalurh Donestk - the league's fourth place team who hosts a local derby on Sunday.  Shakhtar, like Unirea, is (shockingly) done with Europe and can now concentrate on closing the two point gap between them and Dynamo.

6.  Fiorentina versus Juventus, Italian Serie A - Saturday's early match in Italy sees two of the league's most talented teams meet in Florence, though the list of injuries tempers my excitement.  For La Viola, Mario Santana, Juan Vargas, Alessandro Gamberini are all out, with Marco Marchionni and Massimo Gobbi doubtful.  For the Old Lady, Gianluigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, and Amauri are out, while Nicola Legrottaglie and Diego are doubts.  Hmm - perhaps number six is too high for this match.

The top five matches are in this poll.  Click the link, below, for more discussion of them.

5.  Werder Bremen versus Stuttgart, German Bundesliga - Christian Gross has Stuttgart climbing the table in the Bundesliga, and a European spot is now a reasonable expectation.  Werder Bremen is too far behind München, Bayer and Schalke to think the league (or Champions League) is possible, but having shaken off the cobwebs from the five match losing streak that took them out of the title race, Bremen is unbeaten in four and through to the Round of 16 in the Europa League.  Expect a high scoring match, as both sides have been scoring goals for fun.  But then again, is there any other way to score goals?

4.  Fulham versus Tottenham, England's FA Cup - More FA Cup action sees two London clubs meet at Craven Cottage.  Coming off his brace on Wednesday, will Peter Crouch start above Roman Pavlyuchenko, who has five goals in three games?  Regardless, with Chelsea stumbling, Spurs could be looking at a chance for silverware, though Fulham could say the same.  Their ability to knock holders Shakhtar Donetsk out of Europa League speaks to their potential, and if they can get past this round, they could find themselves a healthier side come the semifinals.

3.  Bordeaux versus Montpelier, French Ligue 1 - Consecutive postponements of Girondins matches has allowed Montpelier to catch them at the top of Ligue 1, but with two matches in hand Bordeaux still has a firm grasp on the league.  However, Laurent Blanc has to be concerned that the momentum the club had with strong wins against Saint-Etienne and Lorient was squandered in a their squeaker at Olympiacos, where they won 1-0 on a set piece goal.  Montpelier is not a strong team, but they have managed their season well.  If they manage a win on Sunday, they will be alone in first place (and I will have to change my toon).

2.  Real Madrid versus Sevilla, Spanish Primera Division - Back in the happier, more competitive days of the 2009-10 Primera campaign. Sevilla was proving Real Madrid vulnerable (winning 1-0 at the Sanchez Pizjuan), flaming hopes of a three team race, and when Valencia kept-up with the trio, tears welled in our eyes thinking about the season that could be.  Fast forward to March, Barcelona and Real Madrid have run away from the pack, and we're left with Saturday's match at the Santiago Bernabeu, a time machine back to a happier time in Spanish fútbol.  Sniff.

1.  Roma versus Milan, Italy's Serie A - This match is big enough that it deserved its own post.