Matches to Catch: The European Leagues are Back

Relax, Pep. Just Breathe!Image via Daylife

After some rest, the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League will be back to business this week. With some big teams playing in Europa this season, we are pretty sure both Leagues will be exciting to watch. Let’s see which matches are up this week, that you shouldn’t miss:

Bayern Leverkusen vs Barcelona
Barcelona isn’t doing too well lately and just lost to Osasuna in La Liga last weekend. Now they are 10 points away from Real Madrid. Many think that they may concentrate on Champions League as the La Liga champion seems far away. Yet, Leverkusen is not going to go easy on them. With Messi seems not performing lately, Barcelona will probably face some hard time away from home.

AC Milan vs Arsenal
Needless to say, this will be the most exciting game in the final 16 stage. AC Milan is leading the Series A table at the moment, and Arsenal is doing quite well lately too, with a 7-1 victory against Blackburn and last minute winner against Sunderland. Will Arsenal able to qualify to the next round? Or will AC Milan’s Pato treat Arsenal like how he treated Barcelona? Well, we just hope Ramsey will not kill people again!

Ajax vs Man Utd
Surely a lot of people have been hoping to see how Man Utd will perform in the Europa since they have been absent from this league for a long long time. Do they want to have it? Or will Ferguson let the young players get experience in the tournament instead and focus in Premier League. But who knows, this youngsters may surprise you!

FC Porto vs Man City
No one could have expected the top two clubs leading the Premier League table will have to play in the Europa League this season, but now that they are here…Will they give it all to get the Europa? Man City can definitely put in more effort as they have so many good players in their team (Maybe too many). What do you say? Will City be able to claim both Europa and Premier League champion this season?

Stoke vs Valencia
Can’t explain why but I am actually most looking forward to this match. It should be because of this interesting combination. Valencia seems to be the stronger team, but somehow Stoke’s playing style may just be the style that can stop them. Stoke is physical, and tough, just everything that Spanish are afraid of. So they may surprise us in the Europa, as they are the only team in the England League that make it through to this stage, not Tottenham, not Birmingham, but Stoke City. There must be a good reason for it, so watch out, Valencia!