Soccer on TV: Liverpool seeks to continue its march to history
Liverpool, which has lost one Premier League game since May 2018, hopes to maintain its record chase, weather permitting. In Italy, a red-hot Cristiano Ronaldo seeks to lift Juventus back to its spot atop the table while in Spain, Lionel Messi hopes to do the same for Barcelona, highlighting the top televised soccer matches from Europe this weekend.
EPL: Every time Liverpool takes the field it continues its march toward history. On Saturday, the unbeaten Reds (24-0-1) travel to last-place Norwich (4-15-6) for their first league game in nearly two weeks (NBC, Universo, 9:30 a.m. PST). After beating every other team in the EPL at least once, Liverpool may have to beat Mother Nature to get its next win with severe winds and heavy rain expected to pound Norfolk on Saturday. Liverpool, expected to welcome winger Sadio Mane back from an injury that caused him to miss two games, can move 25 points clear of second-place Manchester City with another victory. It has allowed just one goal in its last 10 EPL matches. Relegation-bound Norwich, meanwhile, hasn’t beaten Liverpool since April 1994 and has won one of its last 12 EPL games against everyone else.
Serie A: Juventus hasn’t finished anywhere other than first in the Italian league since 2011. But more than halfway through this season the eight-time defending champion finds itself locked in a tight battle, standing second in the table, sandwiched between Inter Milan and Lazio. Juventus (17-3-3) trails Inter on goal differential heading into a match Sunday with visiting Brescia (4-15-4), which is a point out of last place (ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, 6 a.m. PST). Ronaldo, who scored 21 goals in his first season in Italy, needs one more to match that this season. He has scored in 10 straight league games, notching 15 goals over that span.
La Liga: Speaking of defending champions in trouble, Barcelona (15-4-4) has won four of the last five Spanish titles but is looking up at Real Madrid heading into a home match Saturday with Getafe (12-5-6), third in the table (BeIN Sports, 7 a.m. PST). Barca, led by Messi’s league-best 14 goals and 11 assists, has lost just one league game since Nov. 2 but Real Madrid (15-1-7) has lost just once all season. Real will try to add to that streak when it hosts Celta Vigo (4-11-8) on Sunday (BeIN Sports, noon PST).
