Girona blew hot all through last season. Apart from Real Madrid, they beat every opponent that came their way – and did so convincingly. Both teams, last weekend, drew their respective matches – Athletico drawing Villareal and Girona securing a late 1 – 1 draw with Real Betis. Now, both teams will be looking to get back to a winning form, thus, setting up an exciting clash.
There will be more games across major levels following the start of league football last week.
In addition to them, on Friday, August 23, Bayern Leverkusen will play Borussia Monchengladbach in the German Bundesliga’s curtain-raiser.
Once more, teams will be attempting to get into a position where they can stack points as quickly as possible before schedules from other tournaments test the depth of their teams.
There are a few more interesting meetings on this week’s schedule than others.
Here are five important games to watch this weekend.
B’ Monchengladbach might have finished 14th last season but will prove a tricky opposition for Bayern Leverkusen for a season opener. With the look of things, Xabi Alonso’s men look ready and fit to retain the title again after they destroyed Bayern Munchen’s dominance last season by winning the league unbeaten and for the first time in their history. Past meetings between the two clubs have been very close as Bayern Leverkusen have only won one of the last three meetings.
Brighton opened the season with a convincing win away at Everton last week and sit at the summit of the English Premier League table. Manchester United, on the other side, had to rely on an 86th-minute strike from new arrival Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna to earn a not-too-convincing win when they hosted Fulham. The next meeting with Brighton and Hove Albion will not be easy for Erik Ten Hag’s men knowing that they have always struggled with Brighton. Manchester United have only won once in the last six meetings with Brighton – suffering four losses during these meetings.
Mikel Arteta and Arsenal were looking towards preventing Manchester City from winning the Premier League again last season until they visited Aston Villa. If they had won the match, they would have edged Manchester City by a lone point on the top of the table. But Arsenal were outrun by their opposition and fell to a 2-0 loss. Interestingly, Arsenal have failed to win any of the home and away fixture last season against Unai Emery’s men. Perhaps, Saturday could be the day of revenge for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta but Aston Villa would not be easy after they beat West Ham at home last week.
Barcelona fans would get to see Nico Williams donning the no.10 shirt for Athletic Bilbao. It then remains to be seen if Williams would show Barcelona what they are missing or not, especially after a frustrating draw at home against Getafe last weekend. Although Barcelona came from behind to win the game versus Valencia, they were far from their best and might have a hard time dealing with Ernesto Valverde’s side. After all, past meetings have revealed that Barcelona have always struggled against the Basque team.
Girona blew hot all through last season. Apart from Real Madrid, they beat every opponent that came their way – and did so convincingly. Both teams, last weekend, drew their respective matches – Athletico drawing Villareal and Girona securing a late 1 – 1 draw with Real Betis. Now, both teams will be looking to get back to a winning form, thus, setting up an exciting clash.