Champions Title Weekend: Where in Football Europe Started First Place Intrigue
The degree of tensions in most Europe’s football championships dropped sharply in early May, when the championship titles also found their clear carriers in theory. Somewhere this happened earlier, but in the top 5 leagues on the Old Continent There is still some intrigue in La Liga and Serie A where Real Madrid (Madrid) and Inter have a chance to shift the leaders Barcelona and Napoli. Liverpool trapped the title in the Higher English League back in January and was already awarded last weekend, Bayern is a champion in the Bundesliga, and Paris Saint -Germain has long been competitive in France.
Dnevnik offers you a short walk through the upcoming football weekend, in stadiums, where the bet is still great and can bring a lot of joy and tears, and the champagne is already getting cold in anticipation of the new champion.
Derby No. 323 between the Eagles and the Lions of Lisbon
The undisputed nail in the program is Lisbon’s super derby between Benfica and Sporting. The match is today, Saturday, at 8:00 pm Bulgarian time and can be watched on the ring TV. Two centuries -old stories, two colors – red and green, which with the power of their symbolism have become opposites. Benfica and Sporting have centuries-old stories, but the upcoming derby will mark one of the most dramatic seasons in the race between them.
Two rounds before the end, the two teams have an equal number of points – 78 each, at the top.
| « Sporting » has the advantage of the head difference, « Benfica » – the audience, which will turn the 65,000th Estadio to Mad in the Red Sea of support. |
In victory, the Greens will be champions if the Bruno Laj team wins with more than one goal difference – the bowl will remain in the cathedral. The equality will postpone the outcome for the last round, keeping the appointment of Sporting, and with the victory of Benfica with one goal difference, everything will be resolved on May 17, but the Eagles will already have a great advantage.
The statistics are eloquent – in the 90 games between the two teams of Luzo, the hosts have 50 wins and 24 draws. The success for Sporting came in only 16 derbies, the latter being 3-1 on December 3, 2021 after a 6-year land. And this season of the Lions, although with a humiliating loss to Porto at the final for the Super Cup 3-0 to 3: 4 in August, began literally as a fairy tale. In the first 10 rounds, Ruben Amorome’s team recorded 10 wins, had the most scored goals and the least scored, crushed in the Champions League and glued a sound slap with 4-1 to Manchester City and Pep Guardiola in early November. Then came the call from Manchester United, Amorim crossed the English Channel and the Lions had a dark period under the direction of Joao Pereira. Benfica came out, then Jose Alvalade arrived at Rui Borhesh, and Sporting was again a leader with 6 points ahead before being caught by an epidemic of injuries and allowing them to be caught again. The spectacle tonight of Estadio da Luzh is not to be missed.
« El Classic » of disappointment
On the Iberian Peninsula this weekend will play another super derby with the taste of the title – El Classico. The degree of tension of Luis Company will be high, although Barcelona leads with 4 points per Real, and by the end of La Liga there are 4 rounds. The match is a swan song for the Italian White Ballet coach Carlo Ancelotti, whose glorious era is over, and for the team it is the last chance to end the season with a trophy. So far, Real was humiliated twice by its eternal rival – once at Santiago Bernabeu in the fall, and then in the Spain Super Cup final in Riyadh.
| Hansey Flick’s hat trick was formed just two weeks ago in the King’s Cup final and at the fourth win on Sunday night, the Catalans can easily open the champagne, and Ancelotti’s heir Shavi Alonso can go to work to cure the injured pride of Madrid. |
In addition to the injuries to Barcelona, it can also be a problem and the fact that just 4 days ago has suffered an extremely dramatic dropout from the Champions League after being 3 minutes since the final ranking. In practice, this will be « El Classico » of disappointment – « Real » at least had a little more time to brave his sound goodbye to the league of the rich after the two Arsenal losses in the quarterfinals.
Is it retiring « Arsenal » Carlo Ancelotti, the British spend 2 times more on transfers from « Real »
The Knights of the Maltese Order
If you are tired of watching the commercial football at the world level, you can always turn to the super final in the Malta championship between Birkirkara and Hamrun. The duel is from 7:00 pm and with a draw in regular time, sequels will be played and then penalties to crowned the winner.
| The format of the Malta Championship is so eccentric that it will take a few years for many football people to understand it. |
The elite Maltese Premier League has 12 teams that play the season in two phases, similar to the Argentine former Apertura and Clausura. Each phase has two stages – in the « opening » stage 1 is played against each in 11 rounds, after which in stage 2 the teams are divided into the upper and lower six and there play each other once against each in 5 rounds. After the 16th round, the ranking of points is reset and the « closing » phase of the season, in which the same two stages are repeated begins. There are several possible scenarios for the final phase, depending on the final ranking – the simplest of them provides if the same team ends the first in both phases of the championship, wins the title. As for the debut season of form, this not only did not happen, but it came to one of the most complex scenarios, which had to play a final four with semi-finals and the finale, because all the different teams finished first in different phases. Hamrun, which did not win a single phase and no stage of the season, but entered a great shape at the most appropriate moment, on the side of the semifinals with penalties « Floriana » and « Birkirkar » won with 1-0 « Sliema » and so it came to the super finals of « Ta Ali ».
| The title is also decided in the Danish Super League, where « Copenhagen » and « Midtiland » play on Sunday at 9:00 pm. In the final six, the difference between the two teams is 1 point in favor of the capital, and by the end there are 3 rounds. |
On Sunday at 3:30 pm, they face each other « Feyenoord » and « PSV Eindhoven » in Rotterdam. Three rounds before the end « Ajax » seems almost sure the Netherlands champion With 4 points a lead at the top and if the « Philipples » lose points on « de Kape », it can celebrate tomorrow night.
The former Berbatov teammate in Tottenham Robbie Keane « Ferencvaros » is likely to become the Hungary Champion if he takes at least a point in his difficult visit to the third in the Paxi ranking tonight. The Irish coach’s team leads 3 points on Pushkash 3 rounds before the end, and on Wednesday is a final for the Hungary Cup again against Paxi.
There is also intrigue in the Polish extraclus, where there are 3 rounds to the end, and Rakov Subzhova leads with only 2 points per Lech. Direct matches have already been played, and Tomorrow night, Poznan’s team is visiting Warsaw at Legia and this derby can decide the title in favor of Rakov.
It is not bad to throw one eye on the Croatian HNL, where 3 rounds before the end of Rijeka leads with 59 points and « Dynamo » (Zagreb) is 58. This weekend, the leaders of the leaders and « glorious Koprios » seem easy, but next week everything can be made clear. Rijeka is visiting the Split of Haiduk and the ranking may look different.
There are also 3 rounds in the Russian Premier League, where Krasnodar leads with 4 points at Zenit, however, tonight at 7:30 pm, he has a heavy visit to Moscow on the third – CSKA. This match may return to the game for the title of St. Petersburg, provided that he won his visit to the Dynamo Mahachkala this afternoon.
The leaders in Israel have an equal number of points 3 rounds before the end of the Legat Hal. Apoel Beer Sheva and McAbi Tel Aviv have 71 points, and last weekend the derby ended them 1: 1. This Leave on the top « Beer Sheva » with a better goal difference, but on Monday night he accepts the third « Mahabi Haifa », who can stumble at the race for the championship title.
For the final, it is worth noting that the Italian Lega Serie A is probably squeezing the leader Napoli to keep his 3 points in front of the former Inter In Inter in the remaining 3 rounds, because when drawn in the points, the regulation provides a decisive super finish between the two teams.
| The last round of Serie A is scheduled for Sunday, May 25, but Inter is ranked for the Champions League final, where it will face Paris Saint -Germain on May 31 in Munich. |
Which means that the league will have to download on Wednesday (May 21) or Thursday (May 22), the last round of Napoli – Cagliari and Como – Inter « Inter » so that it can schedule a possible final in the championship for May 25th Sunday or Monday. Which will violate the regulation according to which all the matches of the last round should be played at the same time in the spirit of the fairplay, and will surely anger Inter Coach Simone Indzagi, whose team will have to play two super important matches in 5 days.
