A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Sunday:
ENGLAND
Manchester City can reduce the gap to Premier League leader Arsenal to three points by beating Aston Villa at Etihad Stadium. Arsenal again opened the door for City by drawing with Brentford 1-1 on Saturday. City is looking to bounce back from losing at Tottenham 1-0 last week and after a week when the club was accused by the Premier League of breaching financial regulations. In the other game, third-placed Manchester United visits Leeds as the teams meet for the second time in four days. They drew 2-2 on Wednesday.
SPAIN
Barcelona can build on its eight-point lead of the league over Real Madrid when it visits Villarreal. Barcelona will be without midfielder Sergio Busquets and winger Ousmane Dembélé due to injuries. In their place, Xavi Hernández could play Frenkie de Jong for Busquets and either Raphinha or Ansu Fati for Dembélé. Ansu is linked to reported interest from Manchester United before the English club visits Camp Nou next week in the Europa League. Marcos Alonso made Xavi’s squad two days after his father, former Barcelona player Marcos Alonso, passed away. Villarreal will be without injured striker Gerard Moreno, its best playmaker and pure goal scorer. Atletico Madrid is at Celta Vigo needing a win to secure its hold on fourth place and the last Champions League spot. Rayo Vallecano crosses the capital to play Getafe trying to continue its great run that has it challenging for European berths. Osasuna is at Valladolid.
GERMANY
With relegation rivals all losing this weekend, Hertha Berlin has a chance to make ground in its bid for Bundesliga survival with a win at home over Borussia Mönchengladbach. Hertha is second from bottom after losing all four games so far in 2023, conceding 13 times and scoring once. But the club’s new sporting director Benjamin Weber is keeping his faith in coach Sandro Schwarz. “I see every day how the coaching team works with the guys,” Weber said. “We have to remain calm in every respect, but it’s absolutely clear that we have to get points.” Eintracht Frankfurt visits Cologne in the late game, when the visitor will be hoping Randal Kolo Muani adds to his four-game scoring run.
FRANCE
Lyon looks to rescue a disappointing season when it hosts third-placed Lens in the league. Alexandre Lacazette will lead the line for Lyon, sitting in ninth place, eight points behind the last European spot. Lacazette scored and made an assist to help Lyon knock Lille out of the French Cup on Wednesday. Fifth-placed Rennes faces a tricky test at Toulouse, which has won its last three home games in all competitions. Rennes has lost ground in the race for Champions League spots because of inconsistent results and injuries to key players. However, Lovro Majer and Christopher Wooh are back in the Rennes squad. Struggling Montpellier fired coach Romain Pitau on Tuesday and appointed Michel der Zakarian to help the club avoid relegation. Der Zakarian is returning to his old haunts as he was the Montpellier coach from 2017-21. Montpellier will hope for the new manager bounce when it hosts Brest. Der Zakarian was available because he was dismissed by Brest last October.
ITALY
Runaway Serie A leader Napoli will be out for revenge against Cremonese when top meets bottom. Cremonese pulled off a big upset when it won at Napoli on penalties in the Italian Cup last month. However, it hasn’t won in the league and is rock bottom, 11 points from safety. Napoli can extend its lead to 16 points with second-placed Inter Milan not playing until Monday. Napoli forward Victor Osimhen has seven goals in his past five league matches to take his tally to 16 in 17 Serie A matches. Juventus hosts fierce rival Fiorentina, which is just two points below the Bianconeri in mid-table. Udinese and Bologna will be looking to move into the European qualifying spots when they face Sassuolo and Monza respectively.
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