Soccer on TV: No El Classico, but we could have a Frank McCourt sighting
Politics have delayed the first El Clasico in Spain, moving the La Liga spotlight from Catalonia back to the capital of Madrid. In England and France, longstanding rivalries between two of the iconic clubs in those respective leagues will go on as planned, highlighting the schedule of top European soccer games on TV this weekend:
La Liga: With Saturday’s game between league-leading Barcelona and second-place Real Madrid postponed until December over security concerns after nine Catalan political leaders were given lengthy prison sentences for their roles in a Catalan independence referendum, the focus in Spain switches to the other Madrid team, Atletico, which will play host to Athletic Club on Saturday (BeIN Sports, noon PT). Atletico (4-1-4) is unbeaten in its last eight matches in all competition and a win Saturday would be their 50th at home against Athletic (3-2-4). Expect a low-scoring game since both teams have allowed just five goals in league play and each has scored just eight times in nine matches.
EPL: Unbeaten Liverpool (8-0-1), which dropped points for the first time this season in last week’s draw at Manchester United, returns to Anfield on Sunday (Channel 4, Telemundo, 9:30 a.m.) to face struggling Tottenham (3-3-3), which could fall into the bottom half of the table with a loss.
Ligue 1: Just 10 games into the French season, Paris Saint-Germain (8-2-0) is already threatening to run away with the league race, entering Friday with a five-point lead over second-place Nantes (6-3-1). Marseille (4-2-4) could join that race with a win Sunday in Paris (BeIN Sports, 1 p.m. PT). PSG, which tops Ligue 1 with 21 goals, has won its last five in all competition while Marseille, the club of former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, has won one of its last five.
