Beautiful Game bragging rights on the line across Europe

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This article was published 05/03/2021 (1992 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s derby weekend across Europe.

From England to Germany and Italy to Spain, local, regional and national bragging rights will be on the line in a handful of signature matchups.

In the Premier League, leaders Manchester City will host second-place Manchester United in a match that, despite the positions of the two teams, will have little to do with the title race.

City, already 14 points clear of United, are easing to a third championship in four seasons. Hit by the injury bug early on in the campaign, they’ve been managed masterfully by Pep Guardiola, who could well guide his charges to multiple trophies in the next few weeks.

Everyone has chipped in. Nine different players have found the back of the net in their previous five outings, and with a lineup of smart players who excel on the ball and are still only growing in confidence, there’s no reason why City can’t win at least three of the four competitions they’re involved in — including the Champions League.

United, meanwhile, have lost just one of 19 but have drawn four of their last five, kept off the scoresheet altogether last weekend at Chelsea and on Wednesday at Crystal Palace.

City need just three wins on the bounce to break Bayern Munich’s all-time record — set earlier this year — and it’s likelier than not that they’ll get one of them in Sunday’s Manchester Derby (10:30 a.m., DAZN).

Bayern, incidentally, will today host Borussia Dortmund in Germany’s national derby (11:30 a.m., Sportsnet).

Just two points above chasers RB Leipzig in the title race, they need a victory in Der Klassiker to ensure they retain top spot for another week. It’s so tight atop the table that, with a Leipzig win at Freiburg earlier in the day, they might actually be second at kick-off.

Already knocked out of the DFB-Pokal and with one win from three in the Bundesliga, Bayern have been something of a mixed bag of late. Dortmund, on the other hand, are enjoying their best spell of the season, propelled largely by the attacking pair of Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho.

The two have combined for nine goals in Dortmund’s last five matches, and six of Sancho’s nine assists so far this term — good for third in the German top flight — have been on Haaland goals. Haaland, for his part, is third in league scoring with 17 tallies.

Dortmund currently find themselves out of the Champions League places, but a Klassiker victory would put them right back in the mix.

Over in Italy, red-hot Inter Milan will be looking to take one more step en route to a first Scudetto since their treble-winning season of 2009-10 when they host Lombardy rivals Atalanta at San Siro (Monday, 1:45 p.m., DAZN).

The two sides played to a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture back in November, but since then Inter have lost only one of 18. They’re currently enjoying a six-game winning streak in which they’ve outscored their opponents a combined 17-2, and even forgotten man Alexis Sanchez has got in on the act with three goals in the past week.

Manager Antonio Conte was always going to turn the Nerazzurri into title contenders, but Atalanta’s Gian Piero Gasperini’s job has been even more impressive.

The Bergamo club are heating up at just the right time and travel to Milan in the midst of a four-game winning run. Level with third-place Juventus on both points and goal-difference, they have May appointment with the Bianconeri in the final of the Coppa Italia in which they’ll look to win a first trophy since 1963.

Finally, the biggest match of the weekend will pit La Liga leaders Atletico against Real in Sunday’s Madrid Derby (9:15 a.m., beIN Sports).

In first place since mid-December, Atletico Madrid have hit some turbulence in recent weeks, recently losing 2-0 at home to Levante and dropping a 1-0 decision to Chelsea in the Champions League.

The dip in form has coincided with a mini-slump from Luis Suarez, who will go into the match without a goal in five. Madrid striker Karim Benzema, meanwhile, faces a late fitness test to see if he can return to spark an attack that has barely even flickered the past month.

Los Blancos have scored just once in each of their last three matches and haven’t found the back of the net more than twice in a game since January.

Still, Madrid are only five points back of leaders Atletico, and they may well require just a single goal to prevail in what should be a low-scoring, closely-contested derby at the Wanda Metropolitano.

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