8 must-watch games from around Europe this weekend

Football has been coming thick and fast recently, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.

This weekend, there are plenty of enthralling games for you to sink your teeth into, with fierce, hot-tempered clashes on show all over Europe.

Here’s the schedule you need to follow.

Kick your weekend off with a trip to the English second tier, where promotion-chasers Middlesbrough will host a Brentford side vying for the Championship title.

The visitors haven’t lost in their last 19 league games, but Boro will hope to clip their wings in the same way they did when they drew with leaders Norwich last week.

A win for Boro could put them into the top six, but defeat could see them tumble all the way to tenth. It’s that tight in the promotion race.

If you cast your eyes over to Turkey, you’ll find what could well end up being the most feisty game of the weekend – the Intercontinental derby.

Arch rivals Fenerbahce and Galatasaray will butt heads on Saturday, and while the reduce crowd size won’t create the atmosphere this fixture deserves, the intensity of the players should make up for it.

Fenerbahce sit first in the Super Lig, with their opponents three points behind. Galatasaray have goal difference in their favour, so a win would take them top.

If Juventus want to claw their way back into the Serie A title race, they need to start winning games like these.

Andrea Pirlo’s side currently sit one point behind third-placed Roma with a game in hand, so a win here would put them right back in the frame to win a tenth successive title.

However, a poor result would see Roma climb away, and Juventus could end the weekend ten points behind leaders AC Milan if everything else goes wrong.

Manchester United are in pursuit off cross-town rivals City in the Premier League table, but to do that, they’ll have to go through Everton first.

With just one loss in their last 15 games, United come into this one in impressive form, but Everton aren’t exactly in bad form either.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men have recovered from their tricky end to 2020 and are slowly starting to look like the side who took the Premier League by storm earlier this season. You won’t want to miss this one.

It’s third vs fourth in the Women’s Super League as Arsenal prepare to host Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.

These two sides met back in December, and it was City who came out on top thanks to a 94th-minute winner from Caroline Weir.

With Chelsea and Manchester United both racking up the victories, neither side can afford to lose this one and fall further behind in the race for the title.

If you only watch one match this weekend, you probably want to make sure it’s this one.

Liverpool and Manchester City have been the two best teams in England in the last few years, so this fixture always looked like being a title-decider, although the circumstances are a little different now.

City are threatening to run away with the title already, whereas Liverpool know a defeat here could see them drop out of the top four. The stakes could hardly be higher.

Le Classique has been bursting with drama for a few years now, and Sunday’s meeting between Marseille and PSG promises to be more of the same.

There was a mass brawl when the two sides met back in September, and those tensions were carried over into January’s Trophee des Champions final.

Old enemies Neymar and Alvaro clashed on the pitch during the game and on Twitter after it, so there’s obviously no love lost in this one.

We’ve seen a few derbies on this list already, but will any hold up to the Quique Setien derby between Barcelona and Real Betis?

Both sides have moved on from their spells with Setien, and both are trying to force their way higher in La Liga. For Betis, it’s about Champions League qualification, while Barça are desperately trying to close the gap to leaders Atletico Madrid.

Ronald Koeman’s side have lost just once in their last 15 games and look to be finding their stride, but Betis won’t make things easy for them.