An Old Firm, a London derby and more…
Our midweek focus was on the European competitions, as the second legs of the Round of 16 matches kept us entertained. We now switch back to domestic football with some big clashes taking place over the weekend.
Sunday is an important day with most of the major matches taking place including an Old Firm derby from Scotland, a clash of two London giants between Arsenal and Chelsea and a pivotal battle at the top of the La Liga table between Atlético Madrid and Barcelona. Manchester City will attempt to get back to winning ways at home to Brighton, Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich will also attempt to recover from last week’s loss when they travel to Union Berlin and Real Madrid are another of the major teams playing away from home, a tricky tie against Villarreal.
There are no Monday matches or midweek ones as we switch to international football next week, with Nations League and qualification matches on the cards, so this is the last round of club action before a two week break.
RB Leipzig vs Dortmund
Red Bull Arena, Saturday @ 18:30
Two struggling Bundesliga teams take on each other in this important match on Saturday at 18.30 with European football on the line. Both teams are on poor runs with RB Leipzig only winning one of their last five matches. Last weekend they managed a goalless draw against Freiburg, another team fighting for a CL spot but they go into this match in sixth spot and in a tight battle with the likes of Frankfurt, Freiburg, Wolfsburg and Stuttgart. Sesko remains their top scorer with ten goals so far and only one of the top ten Bundesliga teams have scored fewer goals.
Dortmund managed an important win in the CL in midweek, making it through to the next round but their league form has been very worrying this season. They find themselves all the way down in tenth spot but only four points behind Saturday’s opponents. They have two wins in their last five but lost last weekend, a poor 1-0 home loss to Augsburg. The 39 goals conceded is the worst amongst the top ten teams but at least goalscoring has been more of a positive, with 45 scored so far this season with nine matches to go.
RB Leipzig have slightly the better record in this head to head with six wins in the last ten. Dortmund won the previous encounter this season and have won four of the last ten.
Celtic vs Rangers
Celtic Park, Sunday @ 13:30
Round 30 of the Scottish Premiership offers us the third Old Firm derby of the season between these two big rivals. Rangers have been well off the pace this year though, so there is not much to play for in terms of the title race with Celtic sixteen points ahead of their Glasgow rivals. The home side have four wins from their last five matches in what has been another dominant season. They have 24 wins from their total of 29 matches with only two defeats so far as they head into the final stretch. Having scored five goals in their last two matches, Celtic go into this match in the best form and will be looking forward to taking on their old rivals.
Rangers are safe in second spot, sixteen points ahead of Hibs in third, but are in a sort of no man’s land with very little to play for other than pride. That being said, there are no friendly matches when it comes to Old Firm clashes and pride is very much on the line. Last weekend they fell to a disappointing loss to Motherwell, showing that Barry Ferguson is still finding his feet in his first managerial role, though knocking out Fenerbahce from Europe this week was a major win for both him and the club.
The last meeting between these two was an impressive 3-0 win for Rangers, but Celtic have won the other two this season. Celtic have won seven of the last ten with Rangers only managing two wins.
Arsenal vs Chelsea
Emirates Stadium, Sunday @ 14:30
This London derby is arguably the match of the weekend in England’s top flight with both teams having played in midweek, but it is Chelsea that have the shorter turnaround due to their involvement in the ECL on Thursday. Neither team have been in the best of form in the league as Arsenal have now fallen fifteen points behind leaders Liverpool in the race for the title and Chelsea are facing a fight to finish in the top four. It’s two draws in a row in the league for Arsenal heading into this match, as they managed a 1-1 draw at old rivals Manchester United last week. Their midweek match was relatively easy as they had a 7-1 first leg lead to take into their CL tie with PSV. They go into this match with the best defensive record in the league and that will be put to the test against a Chelsea side that have only scored fewer than Liverpool.
Chelsea have now managed two wins in a row, albeit against teams in the bottom three, to reignite their push for the top four. They are two points clear of Man City and Newcastle going into this tricky fixture but will hope that their forwards can fire them to some points. Enzo Maresca has come in for some criticism of late but will surely be judged on the final outcomes at the end of the season. Marc Cucurella saved their blushes last weekend with a goal that gave them all three points at home to Leicester after an out of sorts Cole Palmer missed his first ever penalty in the professional game.
Arsenal have had the better of this London derby with six wins in the last ten whereas Chelsea have only managed two wins. Earlier this season both sides had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
Atalanta vs Inter
Gewiss Stadium, Sunday @ 20:45
The final match of the weekend in Serie A is a clash between Atalanta and Inter with both teams very much fighting it out for the title. It is the away side who are first, three points ahead of Atalanta and the top three all won last weekend. The home side are now unbeaten in five Serie A matches but they were eliminated from the CL by Club Brugge not so long ago. Therefore, all focus will be on guaranteeing another top four finish and potentially pushing for the title. These two sides are joint highest scorers in the league with 63 goals each and they almost have an identical defensive record too, Atalanta just edging it with one goal less conceded.
Inter did make it through to the next round of the CL with a 2-1 win in their home leg in midweek so they continue to fight on multiple fronts. Recent wins over Monza and Lazio as well as the draw in Naples has seen them take top place in Serie A and they will know that this match is likely to be one of the toughest tests that remain in the season. In their favour is an excellent recent record against Atalanta, something they will be looking to continue and they will hope that their strike force of Thuram and Martinez will be able to find the target.
Inter have by far the better record here, winning eight of the last ten and drawing the other two. The last time Atalanta beat Inter in any competition was in November 2018.
Atlético Madrid vs Barcelona
Metropolitano Stadium, Sunday @ 21:00
Atlético will need to pick themselves up after being so close to beating Real Madrid on Wednesday evening in the CL. They won the second leg 1-0, a result which took them to extra time and penalties, only to suffer a devastating loss in the shootout. It remains to be seen how much that will have taken out of the players, both physically and mentally, but they must be ready to go again in this important match on Sunday. They are only one point behind the leaders in the table and will be desperate to remain in the title race with ten matches to go after this one. A number of players limped out of the midweek CL battle so it remains to be seen how many changes Diego Simeone will need to make to his team. They continue to have the best defence in the league and that will be severely tested against the best attack.
Barcelona had a much easier midweek task as they got the better of Benfica in their European tie, winning 4-1 on aggregate. They will go into this match as favourites to win given various factors and will know that if they can leave the Metropolitano with three points they will have taken a big step towards eliminating Atlético from the title race. They might be able to welcome back Andreas Christiansen, who has only played once so far this season to help with their defensive efforts. Attack wise they should have few worries, especially as they have already scored 71 goals this season with Robert Lewandowski leading the La Liga goalscoring charts. This is likely to be a match of attack versus defence.
The last meeting, in the Copa del Rey, was an entertaining 4-4 match last month and it was Atlético who claimed all three points from their trip to Barcelona back in December. Overall though, Atlético have only won three of the last ten with Barcelona claiming five wins.
Last Updated: 14.03.2025
