Midweek Cup Action and a London thriller
With no midweek European Cup action this week we have a number of domestic cup matches taking place as well as a round of fixtures from the PL, since the cup will be played at the weekend. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest matches this midweek!
The PL action starts on Tuesday with four matches to be played, including a south coast derby between Brighton and Bournemouth. Elsewhere, Crystal Palace take on Aston Villa, Wolves host Fulham and Chelsea face bottom team Southampton. On Wednesday the match of the day is Tottenham’s meeting with Manchester City, with both teams desperate for points for different reasons. Leaders Liverpool take on Newcastle in another important match in an interesting clash with Arsenal playing away at Nottingham and United home to Ipswich. The final match of the round takes place on Thursday as West Ham host Leicester.
The Coppa Italia matches this week are Inter versus Lazio on Tuesday followed by Juventus against Empoli on Wednesday and there is one solitary Serie A match between Bologna and Milan which is scheduled for Thursday. The DFB Pokal Cup returns to our screens with Bielefeld taking on Werder Bremen on Tuesday followed by RB Leipzig against Wolfsburg on Wednesday. The Copa del Rey gives us two great ties with Barcelona hosting Atlético Madrid on Tuesday followed by Real Madrid’s visit to Real Sociedad. As well as these there are also matches from the Turkish Cup, the Copa Libertadores, Scottish Premier League, French Cup as well as the Championship and League One in England.
Barcelona vs Atlético Madrid
Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, Tuesday @ 21:30
These two giants of the Spanish Football scene have been battling it out at the top of the La Liga table all season and they clash again in this semi-final of the Copa del Rey, with the first leg taking place this Tuesday. The hosts will be looking to win the competition for the first time since 2021 and they made easy work of getting the better of Valencia in the previous round, winning 5-0. Barca are unbeaten in their last five matches at their temporary home stadium, a run that has been going since they were beaten by Atlético Madrid back in December.
Atlético Madrid made it to this stage last season but were beaten 4-0 by Athletic Bilbao, a surprising result at the time. They are unbeaten in the last eight matches in all competitions and won their weekend match comfortably 3-0 against Valencia to briefly go to the top of the La Liga table. They were comfortable winners in the previous round, beating Getafe 5-0 and they have yet to concede a goal in this competition this season.
Barcelona go into this match as favourites to win but they were beaten at home by Atlético in the league in December. They have won five of the last ten meetings with Atlético winning three.
Inter vs Lazio
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Tuesday @ 21:00
Inter managed a narrow 1-0 victory at the weekend to leapfrog Napoli into top spot in the Serie A. They must now put that success to the back of their mind as they switch their attention to the cup where they face Lazio in this tricky quarter-final tie. A win here will see Inter reach their fifth semi-final in the last six years, an excellent cup record. It will be interesting to see what sort of a team manager Simone Inzaghi puts out as he must keep in mind that he has a very important league match at the weekend against Napoli, a potentially title deciding encounter. Inter are unbeaten at home in the last sixteen matches and they have managed six regular time clean sheets in their last seven Coppa Italia matches at the San Siro.
Lazio will be somewhat wary coming into this match as they lost heavily to Inter earlier this season, a 6-0 drubbing still relatively fresh in the memory. They also face a tough Serie A match at the weekend, taking on AC Milan, as well as a European clash next week against Viktoria Plzen. Their away form has not been the best of late, winning only two of the last five matches on the road, with scoring being somewhat of an issue.
Inter have won six of the last ten clashes between these two with Lazio only managing two victories.
Tottenham vs Manchester City
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Wednesday @ 20:30
Two teams who are having difficult seasons with Tottenham languishing in the wrong half of the table and Manchester City putting up a poor defence of their title and being dumped out of the CL last week. Tottenham have finally managed to string a few wins together, their away win over Ipswich was their third in a row and lifted them up to twelfth position in the table. This home tie against an out of sorts Manchester City gives them the chance to get within a point of Brentford above them and will allow them to see how competitive they are likely to be for the rest of the season. A few players have come back from injury but the likes of Solanke, Romero and Van de Ven continue to be absent.
Manchester City only have two wins from their last five matches and the FA Cup at the weekend is their last chance of winning some silverware this season. When it comes to the league, they still need to fight to hold on to a top four spot to guarantee their participation in next season’s CL. Injuries are continuing to play a role for City too with the likes of Stones, Rodri and Akanji all missing for this match. Manager Pep Guardiola will be hoping to have his star striker back in action and able to partner Marmoush up front whereas more is expected from the likes of Foden, Doku and De Bruyne.
Tottenham’s 4-0 win over City back in November certainly raised some eyebrows so there is no doubt that City will want revenge for that. Manchester City have won four of the last ten whereas Tottenham have won five, not many teams can say they have the better record against Manchester City over recent years.
Real Sociedad vs Real Madrid
Reale Arena, Wednesday @ 21:30
The second of this season’s Copa del Rey semi-finals is between Real Sociedad and Real Madrid with Sociedad at home in the first leg. Therefore, they will be desperate to win this first match in order to take an advantage into the second match at the Bernabeu. However, there is no getting away from the fact that the visitors are favourites to win this match, their recent form showing what they can do. Sociedad themselves have been in good form, winning four of the last five matches including a comfortable 3-0 win over Leganes at the weekend. They got the better of Osasuna in the previous round but facing Real is a whole other level.
The visitors followed up their impressive win over Manchester City with a comfortable win over Girona at the weekend as they maintained their second spot in the table, joint points with arch rivals Barcelona. Real Sociedad have not quite been able to live up to last season’s standards as they are down in eight this year, twenty points behind their opponents in the cup. This is the second meeting this season between these two with the team from the capital winning the league match 2-0 earlier this season.
Real Madrid have won six of the last ten whereas Real Sociedad have only won one in that same timeframe, so the fact that Madrid are favourites to win is no surprise.
Last Updated: 24.02.2025
