Source: Igor Alekseev, photo Dynamo Minsk
Of the European cups, only the Conference League will be available in the coming week, where we continue to faithfully follow the remaining games of Dinamo Minsk. For the rest, we’ll focus our attention on the main European championships and cups – there are a lot of worthwhile signs there. Together with Betera, we traditionally plan sports and contemplative leisure activities for the coming week.
“Monaco” – “PSG”, Ligue 1, December 18
PSG has been performing unconvincingly in the Champions League for several seasons now. Moreover, the new format of the tournament seems to have only worsened the situation. At home, on the other hand, the Parisians are doing well: not a single defeat this season and rare draws. Monaco loses points much more often, but still enters the top three of the championship early and continues to pursue the club of sheikhs.
However, at the distance of the last matches, the Monegasques do not look like opponents capable of beating PSG: the club cannot cope with opponents of the same level, and at times cannot defeat opponents of a lower class. It is likely that at home in a match with the championship leader, the team is unlikely to claim a result better than a draw.
“Panathinaikos” — “Dynamo Minsk”, Conference League, December 19
Last week the Minsk club finally won the Conference League. Northern Ireland’s Larne fell, conceding two unanswered goals. True, this fact is unlikely to help Dynamo continue its progress in the third most important European Cup, especially taking into account the fact that Panathinaikos is waiting for them in the next match.
At home, the Greek club is in the top three in the championship, and in the Conference League it also feels much more confident than the Minsk team. It seems that Panathinaikos must win in the home match.
As always, we are cheering for our people?!
Tottenham – Manchester United, League Cup, 19 December
Right now the clubs are located on adjacent lines in the table. But not in the way we are used to during the Premier League draws of the mid-10s: not among the leaders, but in the middle of the table. Amorim’s United continues to search for its game and the optimal combination of players on the field, without much success so far (not counting the victory over the suffering Manchester City). And Tottenham categorically does not want to give up their inspired attacking football, which is why they often miss out on more than deserved victories.
We won’t be surprised if the teams settle amicably in the next meeting, but still won’t leave us without scoring goals.
Bayern – RB Leipzig, Bundesliga, December 20
Leipzig is not as good now as at the start of the season, but Bayern are also having problems. The club, left without Harry Kane, fully felt the absence of an attack leader, and last weekend for the first time this season in the championship it lost to a strong, but not the most obvious, Mainz. The meeting with the “bulls” is also unlikely to be easy.
Leipzig continues to consistently lose in the Champions League, but there are plenty of negative results at home. And not only clubs of the caliber of Borussia Dortmund win, but also representatives of the Bundesliga such as Wolfsburg or Hoffenheim. However, we think that the Bulls are capable of clinging to a draw in the match with Bayern.
Who do you believe in?
Barcelona – Atlético Madrid, La Liga, December 21
As we wrote earlier, Flick is gradually getting used to Barcelona, but the team is not yet striving for pragmatism, which results in drawn or even lost matches in the last rounds. Often there are not enough players for the second half, and the Blaugrana lose the advantage they earned at the beginning of the match.
This is not good news ahead of the game against the Indians. Atlético is just amazing in the second halves: the team literally has two equal squads, and the athletes coming off the bench to face a tired opponent make the difference over and over again. Considering the great form of the Madrid team lately (11 wins in all tournaments in a row), we will not be surprised by their next victory.
Who will be stronger?
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