What to watch in international soccer this weekend
Two of Europe’s top leagues return from holiday vacations this weekend, helping to fill a full schedule of games across the continent.
Bundesliga: The German league comes back from a month-long break Friday when league leader Bayern Munich travels to North Rhine-Westphalia to play fourth-place Bayer Leverkusen, which hasn’t lost since Sept. 20. (FS1, UDN, 11:30 p.m. PST). The clubs met in a season opener, Munich winning at home. Robert Lewandowski scored Bayern’s final goal in that game, the first of his league-leading 15.
Ligue 1: Top-flight games also resume in France after a holiday hiatus that Monaco hopes won’t slow its momentum. The defending league champion has won four in a row to climb to second in the table behind Paris Saint-Germain. Three of those wins came at home but Monaco will play Saturday on the road, traveling to Montpellier (BeIN Sports, 11:30 a.m. PST). Three of Monaco’s four losses have come in road matches.
EPL: Speaking of momentum, no team has more then Manchester City, which along with Spain’s Barcelona is one of only two major European teams still unbeaten in league play. On Sunday, City will make the 45-minute trip to Anfield to meet Liverpool, a team it beat 5-0 in September (NBCSN, Telemundo, 8 a.m. PST). Liverpool has lost only one other EPL match, climbing to fourth in the table, but is now without midfielder Philippe Coutinho, who was sold this week to Barcelona for $192 million. But the Reds, who could move into second in the standings with a win, still have firepower in Egyptian Mohamed Salah, Africa’s player of the year. He is second in the EPL with 17 goals.
