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After the storms of UEFA Champions League and Europa League, it's time to return to the most interesting national championship matches, and the upcoming week will not be short of exciting games. In the middle of the week, European tournaments will be replaced by national cup competitions.
2013.02.24, Sunday
English Premier League
15:30: Manchester City (2nd place) - Chelsea (3rd place)
The last five league matches: Manchester City - 2 wins and 3 losses; Chelsea - 2 wins and 3 draws.
There are still 12 rounds left in the Premier League, but it seems that Manchester City and Chelsea will only fight for the 2nd place this season, unless something unexpected happens to Manchester United's game. Despite trailing behind the leaders, both teams need to secure 3 points. For Manchester City, it would be a small step in chasing the "Red Devils," while a loss for Chelsea could drop them to 4th place.
The unpredictable Mario Balotelli is no longer in the City squad, which gives more playing time and a chance to shine for other team attackers - Edin Dzeko and Carlos Tevez, who often came on the pitch from the bench. The future of the home team's coach Roberto Mancini is also uncertain due to the club's less successful performance than expected by the sponsors.
Italia Serie A
21:45: Inter Milan (5th place) - AC Milan (3rd place)
The last five league matches: Inter - 1 win, 2 draws, and 2 losses; Milan - 4 wins and 1 draw.
Sunday evening awaits football fans in Italy and around the world for the Milan city derby, known as the "Derby della Madonnina," which is one of the most famous city derbies in the world.
Just recently, Milan's position in the league table seemed tragic, but it seems that by acquiring Mario Balotelli, the club made a very right decision, and he has justified it completely. The "Italian" attack of the visitors with Stephan El Shaarawy, Giampaolo Pazzini, and the aforementioned M.Balotelli will be a tough task for coach Andrea Ssramaccioni's team, especially since the "Red and Blacks" will be boosted after an impressive victory in the UEFA Champions League over the mighty Barcelona.
Inter celebrated a victory in the first round away, but the team will have to cope without their main striker Diego Milito until the end of the season, and Antonio Cassano and Rodrigo Palacio often play too widely, leaving no one to score goals.
French Ligue 1
22:00: Paris Saint Germain (1st place) - Olympique Marseille (3rd place)
The last five league matches: PSG - 4 wins and 1 loss; Olympique - 2 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss.
The leaders of the French Ligue 1 Paris Saint Germain were recently joined by the famous David Beckham, which for many is a reason to watch these matches, as the Englishman played in the United States for a long time, and the opportunity to see him on the football pitch in Europe was very rare. On the other side - in the Olympique team - another Englishman Joey Bartonz, who left the English Premier League after 12 matches of disqualification, where he punched Carlos Tevez and then tried to provoke a brawl with Vincent Kompany. Some newspapers have already dubbed this match as a clash between the deity D.Beckham and the devil J.Barton.
In terms of the teams' position in the league table, the Parisian team currently leads Lyon's Olympique by 3 points, so a loss could mean losing the leader position. If the visitors from Marseille lose, PSG will be 8 points ahead of them, and catching up will be quite difficult, especially since Zlatan Ibrahimovic's team has been showing a very high quality and result-bringing form lately.
The first round match in Marseille ended in a 2-2 draw, and in the French League Cup quarterfinals, the hosts PSG were stronger, who later withdrew from the competition. It is interesting to note that by chance, the teams will meet in the French Cup quarterfinals as well, and the first meeting is already this Wednesday in Paris.
2013.02.25, Monday
Italia Serie A
20:00: Udinese (9th place) - Napoli (2nd place)
The last five league matches: Udinese - 2 wins and 3 losses; Napoli - 2 wins and 3 draws.
Comparing to the previous season, this Serie A championship is developing quite unsuccessfully for Udinese. Last year, they fought for a place in the UEFA Champions League and narrowly missed entering the group stage, but this season, the Udinese club is struggling. The team is only in 9th place in Serie A, showing unpredictable gameplay and often losing to teams lower in the league table. However, the team performs much better at home than away, which could be a decisive factor in this match. Although reaching the Champions League may be out of reach for the team, they will certainly fight for the opportunity to play in the UEFA Europa League.
Napoli has raised the bar even higher this season and targets the championship title. The team plays an enjoyable, attacking football, forcing the league leaders Juventus to stay on their toes. Napoli's unexpected exit from the Europa League, where they hopelessly lost to Czech Viktoria Plzen with an aggregate score of 0-5, was very surprising. After such a defeat, any team should be angry, so it will be interesting to see if this theory will be confirmed in the match against Udinese.
2013.02.27, Wednesday
Germany Cup (DFB-Pokal), quarterfinal
21:30: Bayern Munich - Borussia Dortmund
Midweek football fans will enjoy what is probably the clash of the two strongest German teams at the moment. Bayern Munich firmly leads the Bundesliga, with Borussia Dortmund following in second place. Both teams have performed well in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals and have good chances of progressing to the next stage.
This season, the teams have already met twice. Bayern won the German Super Cup 2-1 at the Allianz Arena. The first round match of the Bundesliga in Munich ended in a 1-1 draw. The strength of the teams is very similar, so it would be very difficult to predict the winner.
