A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Tuesday:
ENGLAND
The Premier League returns for its third round in the space of a week, with Manchester United looking to move level on points with leader Manchester City by beating Southampton at Old Trafford. United has stumbled in the second half of January, winning just one of its four league games — and that was a come-from-behind victory at relegation-threatened Fulham. Southampton started the season in brilliant style, and was briefly in first place in November, but has dropped to 11th after losing its last three games. Arsenal is unbeaten in seven league games heading to Wolverhampton, while the bottom two teams meet at Bramall Lane where last-placed Sheffield United hosts West Bromwich Albion. Newcastle also hosts Crystal Palace.
SPAIN
Sevilla visits second-division Almería looking to make it to the Copa del Rey semifinals for the first time since 2018, when it lost the title in a final against Barcelona. Almería, the only lower-division club left in the competition, eliminated two top-tier clubs on its way to the quarterfinals — Alavés in the round of 32 and Osasuna in the last 16. It sits third in the second division. Sevilla, third in the first division, has won five consecutive games in all competitions.
ITALY
Inter Milan will be without Romelu Lukaku for the first leg of the Italian Cup semifinals against Juventus at the San Siro. Lukaku is suspended for accumulated cards following his spat with Zlatan Ibrahimović in last week’s quarterfinal win over AC Milan. Inter beat Juventus 2-0 two weeks ago in Serie A and coach Antonio Conte wants to maintain supremacy over his former club. Napoli hosts Atalanta in the other semifinal on Wednesday, with the return legs scheduled for next week. The final is on May 19.
GERMANY
Bayern Munich's early elimination from the German Cup has opened up the draw as the third round gets underway. Borussia Dortmund takes on second-division Paderborn for a place in the quarterfinals, looking to build on a win over Augsburg on Saturday which ended Dortmund's three-game winless run. There's a mismatch as Bayer Leverkusen visits fourth-tier Rot-Weiss Essen, which was once a Bundesliga team but has fallen on hard times in the regional leagues. The team which knocked out Bayern on penalties in the last round, Holstein Kiel, faces fellow second-tier team Darmstadt. Werder Bremen plays Greuther Fürth.
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