Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen v Schalke 04
Saturday 5.30pm
In Germany this evening, second-placed Schalke 04 are at fifth-placed Bayer Leverkusen amidst rumours that play-maker Lewis Holtby has asked for a significant pay rise having received offers to play in the Premier League.
Coach Hubb Stevens will be hoping that the contracts of both Holtby and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar can be secured before January, but in the short-term, he’s just happy that Huntelaar got a nice 90-minute rest during Holland’s midweek international against Germany.
“I can’t say why Huntelaar didn’t play on Wednesday, but I am just pleased that he didn’t get injured.”
Leverkusen will begin the game five points behind 04, keen to bounce back from an embarrassing 3-1 defeat away to struggling Wolfsburg.
Schalke though, also lost their most recent away game; 3-2 to Hoffenheim, a result which ended a run of eight unbeaten in all competitions.
Serie A: Napoli v AC Milan
Saturday 7.45pm
Napoli welcome an AC Milan side which is enduring its worst start to the season in living memory.
Napoli, too, have suffered their fair share of away defeats but rolled up their sleeves to secure a gutsy 4-2 win against Genoa last week to move to within a point of Inter.
Still, with clubs this size both clawing desperately a result it’s sure to be a belter. Defeat for the Rosseneri would push them ever closer to the relegation places, while Napoli will hope to close the gap of Juventus to just a single point.
Both AC Milan forward Stephan El Shaarawy and Napoli striker Edinson Cavani are top of the Serie A scoring charts on eight goals apiece and are attracting interest from some of the top clubs in Europe.
El Shaarawy is in rude health, having scored Italy’s only goal in a 2-1 friendly defeat to France on Wednesday, but after 12 games Massimiliano Allegri’s men sit 13th on just 14 points.
La Liga: Real Madrid v Athletic Bilbao
Saturday 9pm
Third place Real Madrid (that still feels weird to type, but it’s true) host the mid-table Basque side who finally look to be stringing some results together – beating Sevilla and Granada in successive weeks – after a disappointing start to the season which hit a low with the 3-0 derby defeat to Sociedad.
Madrid too, are picking up a little pace with four straight league wins since their El Clasico draw at the Nou Camp, but remain five points adrift of Atletico Madrid in second and eight behind Barcelona.
Ligue 1: Bordeaux v Marseille
Sunday 8pm
Joint-leaders Marseille, held 2-2 by Nice last weekend and already missing injured striker Andre-Pierre Gignac, have had more bad news ahead of Sunday’s trip to in-form Bordeaux with striker Loic Remy out for up to three months with a thigh injury.
Striker Jordan Ayew will also be absent as Marseille try and hold their position as joint Ligue 1 leaders ahead of next week’s Europa League clash at home against Turkish side Fenerbahce.
Bordeaux are sitting sixth, just two points behind the leaders, but midfielder Nicolas Maurice-Belay believes his side could be playing this season’s champions against Marseille.
Credit
“They haven’t been given sufficient credit as favourites this season because PSG had a big recruitment drive and Marseille didn’t recruit much,” said Maurice-Belay.
“The fact that the group have known each other for the past year has helped them get a good start to the season.
“Having messed up the end of the previous season has boosted them. They’ve focused themselves on being even more competitive for the start to the season.”
The south-west club have won their last three games in all competitions and have proven hard to beat, keeping clean-sheets in each recent victory with only Newcastle and Bastia managing to score more than twice against them this season.
-Additional reporting © AFP, 2012
