A look at what’s happening around European soccer on Saturday:
ENGLAND
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is looking to get his once-prolific attack firing again amid a benign run of fixtures in the Premier League, starting with a home match against Burnley. City has scored 303 times over the past three seasons and has regularly been the top scorer in the league, but has netted only 10 in eight games so far. Burnley has typically been an obliging opponent for City, however, and Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero are available again for Guardiola ahead of upcoming home games against Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle. Liverpool faces a quick turnaround, heading to Brighton for the lunchtime kickoff having played Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday evening. West Brom and Sheffield United meet in a battle of the bottom two, with neither side having won a game this season. Leeds travels to Everton, which is without left back Lucas Digne until next year because of an ankle ligament injury.
SPAIN
Real Madrid will try to end a two-game winless streak in the Spanish league when it hosts Alavés, while Atlético Madrid will go for its sixth league victory in a row when it visits midtable Valencia. Atlético is three points behind leader Real Sociedad with two games in hand. Real Madrid is in fourth place, six points off the lead with a game in hand. Seventh-placed Sevilla visits second-to-last-place Huesca.
ITALY
Last in its Champions League group and struggling to find continuity in Serie A, Inter Milan is under pressure going to unbeaten Sassuolo, which is surprisingly second. Atalanta looks to build on its stunning Champions League victory at Liverpool when it hosts Hellas Verona, and boosted by the goal-scoring return of Josip Ilicic. His goal against Liverpool was his 50th for Atalanta. Nine-time defending champion Juventus visits promoted Benevento, which is coached by former Juventus and AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi.
GERMANY
Crisis-hit Schalke visits Borussia Mönchengladbach, the last team it beat in the Bundesliga in January, hoping to bring an end to its club-record run of 24 league games without a victory. The odds are not good. Schalke has a host of injuries, an unnamed player with the coronavirus, and suspended three players on Tuesday after internal disagreements. Two of the three, Vedad Ibisevic and Nabil Bentaleb, are to leave the club. Technical director Michael Reschke also left by mutual consent. Coach Manuel Baum is finding it hard to put a side together for the game but he says the club’s disciplinary actions were necessary. League leader Bayern Munich visits promoted Stuttgart, second-placed Borussia Dortmund hosts winless Cologne, and Leipzig hosts promoted Arminia Bielefeld. Fifth-placed Union Berlin hosts Eintracht Frankfurt.
FRANCE
League leader Paris Saint-Germain hosts Bordeaux with winger Hatem Ben Arfa returning to face his former club after an unhappy two-year spell at PSG saw him cut from training with the first team. He has a good record at Parc des Princes, though, having netted four times when on the visiting team. Meanwhile, Brazil star Neymar looks to become the quickest PSG player to reach 50 league goals. If he does, it will be in his 58th game, one less than former club star Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Marseille takes on Nantes in the other game needing to bounce back from a record 13th straight defeat in the Champions League. If Marseille wins at its Stade Velodrome it will move up to third place with two games in hand on the other sides in the top six.
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