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The Euro Preview: Valencia look to close gap, Napoli aim to stay in first

By Clemente Lisi

BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 19: Sergio Busquets of Barcelona competes for the ball with Simone Zaza of Valencia during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and Valencia CF at Camp Nou Stadium on March 19, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 19: Sergio Busquets of Barcelona competes for the ball with Simone Zaza of Valencia during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and Valencia CF at Camp Nou Stadium on March 19, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images) /
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In the biggest game in Europe this weekend, Valencia will be look to cut into Barcelona’s La Liga, while Napoli want to strengthen their hold of first place.

La Liga

Before Barcelona can run off with the title, second-place Valencia will try to close the four-point gap that separates the two teams. Barcelona may not be playing their best soccer, but continue to win in the league. Can Valencia pull off the upset on Sunday before a home crowd at the Mestalla? For neutrals, the hope is Valencia can squeeze out a victory. It would make the title chase a race again.

Both Real Madrid (who host Malaga this Saturday after qualifying for the round of 16 in the Champions League earlier this week) and Atletico Madrid (who face Levante on the road the same day) are 10 points adrift of the Catalan giants. The Liga dream for them may be over. For Valencia, however, the dream is still very much alive. While Barcelona have scored 33 goals this season, Valencia are close behind at 32. Both Barca and Valencia are the two most-entertaining teams in Spain. The hope is this is a clash that can live up those expectations. Few big games do these days.

Barcelona, under new coach Ernesto Valverde, have been unbeaten in the league this season (11-1-0), while Valencia have also remained undefeated (9-3-0). Valverde, however, has had only two Liga matches thus far versus teams in the top seven positions: a 2-1 home win against Sevilla and a 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid. Valencia, too, have a new manager, Marcelino. He’s made a number of big changes to the lineup since the summer, part of the club’s new CEO Mateu Alemany’s plan to rebuild the team. Aside from Simone Zaza, players such as Gabriel, Ezequiel Garay and Geoffrey Kondogbia have all been key as Marcelino continues to push his side.

The match will also be a dual of strikers: Lionel Messi leads the league in scoring with 12 goals. Behind him is Italian forward Zaza with nine.

Bundesliga

There appears to be no way of stopping Bayern Munich. While interest remains high in the German top flight, especially among Americans given the high number of U.S. players in the league, the poor form of teams like Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig has not helped the title race.

Even bigger than Bayern’s surge after a bad start is Dortmund’s fall. The team went from first to fifth and nine points away from Bayern at the top. That puts Dortmund practically out of contention for the Bundesliga title. After losing 2-1 to Tottenham on Tuesday in the Champions League, Dortmund coach Peter Bosz insisted his side are “not lacking stamina.”

Borussia Dortmund, winless after five matches in the Champions League’s group stage and eliminated from reaching the last 16, need to start winning games domestically in order to catch up and add meaning to their season. While Bayern Munich play Saturday on the road against Monchengladbach, Dortmund host second-place Schalke 04 the same day. Dortmund will need plenty of stamina if it wants to keep up with Schalke.

“You could see after the 1-1 that we are lacking confidence,” Bosz told reporters on Tuesday. “In the first half [against Tottenham], we played well. We were well-organized and created chances. After the equalizer, we couldn’t carry on, though. Stamina, however, is not an issue for us.”

Next: Arsenal stun Tottenham to win derby: 3 things we learned

Serie A 

Despite Italy’s failure to reach the World Cup finals, Serie A has been both exciting and wide-open this season. First-place Napoli will need to keep winning (they play Sunday at Udinese) to stay top of the table. Napoli lead the way with 35 points, with Inter Milan (who play at Cagliari on Sunday) two points off the pace. Defending champions Juventus and last season’s runners-up Roma, at 31 and 30 points, respectively, remain in the title race.

The reality is that a group of six teams — Napoli, Inter Milan, Juventus, AS Roma, Lazio and Sampdoria — have broken away from the rest of the table. Sampdoria, on 26 points, have a seven-point lead over the seventh-place team, AC Milan.

Napoli, who defeated Shakhtar Donestsk of Ukraine 3-0 on Tuesday to remain alive in the Champions League, are led by striker Lorenzo Insigne. The winger’s spectacular goals have drawn interest from England, where he would fit in perfectly with several Premier League teams.  While Insigne didn’t get a chance to play in Italy’s do-or-die match against Sweden that decided who would go to Russia 2018, Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri said there’s no way he will rest his star player. Add to Napoli’s dynamic attack the talents of Belgian international Dries Mertens and midfielder Marek Hamsik and this is a team that could very well win its first league title since 1990 when the great Diego Maradona was captain.

“This is Lorenzo. He has improved so much over the last three years, become a world class player who I think has to be left out of squad rotation too, because he is so important,” Sarri told Mediaset Premium. “We can give him a rest for the final 20 minutes, but to drop him from the start – I can’t do it.”

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