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The Euro Preview: Beware Bayern’s surge, AC Milan-Napoli offers up throwback appeal

By Clemente Lisi

UCL DFS: 18 January 2019, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Sinsheim: Robert Lewandowski celebrates Bayern's third goal at Hoffenheim. Photo: Hasan Bratic/dpa - WICHTIGER HINWEIS: Gemäß den Vorgaben der DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga bzw. des DFB Deutscher Fußball-Bund ist es untersagt, in dem Stadion und/oder vom Spiel angefertigte Fotoaufnahmen in Form von Sequenzbildern und/oder videoähnlichen Fotostrecken zu verwerten bzw. verwerten zu lassen. (Photo by Hasan Bratic/picture alliance via Getty Images)
UCL DFS: 18 January 2019, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Sinsheim: Robert Lewandowski celebrates Bayern's third goal at Hoffenheim. Photo: Hasan Bratic/dpa - WICHTIGER HINWEIS: Gemäß den Vorgaben der DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga bzw. des DFB Deutscher Fußball-Bund ist es untersagt, in dem Stadion und/oder vom Spiel angefertigte Fotoaufnahmen in Form von Sequenzbildern und/oder videoähnlichen Fotostrecken zu verwerten bzw. verwerten zu lassen. (Photo by Hasan Bratic/picture alliance via Getty Images) /
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Bayern Munich are just six points off the pace in the Bundesliga, while this weekend’s AC Milan-Napoli match could play a big role in the Serie A title race.

Bundesliga

Bayern Munich have no chance to win the title. That was the sentiment throughout the fall. As the team fell further behind, and Borussia Dortmund kept piling on victories, that seemed to be a truer statement with each passing week.

History says otherwise, with Bayern known to have the personnel to mount a comeback no matter how bad they start. Indeed, that slow start was followed up by a seven-game unbeaten streak that started in November and stretched to last Friday’s 3-1 win against Hoffenheim. The Bavarian giants will put that streak on the line at home Sunday on matchday 19 against relegation candidates Stuttgart.

“We’re the chasers and we want to hunt them,” Bayern manager Niko Kovac told reporters when asked about BVB. “We want to be champions.”

At the same time, Dortmund defeated RB Leipzig 1-0 to maintain a six-point lead over second-place Bayern. BVB play Saturday at home against Hanover 96.

Dortmund, hampered by injuries since returning from the annual winter break, have shown both resilience and depth as they try to break Bayern’s lock on the league title.

Axel Witsel, who scored BVB’s winner, told the league’s official website: “We’re still first, but we’re going to play game by game like we have done from the first game of the season.”

Serie A

It looks as if no one in Italy can stop leaders Juventus, no matter how many games second-place Napoli win. That was a fact last month before the winter break and the same continues to hold true now.

While Juve play on Sunday in Rome against Lazio, Napoli will renew their rivalry with fourth-place AC Milan the previous day at the San Siro looking to make up a nine-point deficit in the standings. The Rossoneri are in fourth place and competing for a Champions League spot, while Napoli look to maintain the pace as manager Carlo Ancelotti faces off against the club where he won everything as a player in the late 1980s and early ’90s, and then again as a manger in the mid-2000s.

Indeed, it’s that past history that these two clubs share that make this game a must-watch even though AC Milan have fallen on tough times in recent years.

Although the magic this matchup mustered up in the days of Diego Maradona and Ruud Gullit has fizzled out, this matchday 21 game could reveal many unanswered questions about the type of season both Napoli and AC Milan will have going forward. For example, Napoli’s comeback against AC Milan earlier this season, from 2-0 down to a 3-2 victory, is proof this rivalry lives up to its billing.

Don’t ask Ancelotti who will start on any given week. He maintains Napoli don’t have any starters and that the entire roster has a shot. He told reporters following last Sunday’s win against Lazio: “Since everyone is doing so well we won’t have a definitive starting eleven.”

A Napoli win and they can either keep up, or close the gap, with Juve. A Napoli defeat, coupled with a Juve victory, would all but end the title race. It would also mean AC Milan would consolidate their place in the top four. Can a return to the Champions League be too far behind?

dark. Next. Domestic leagues resume across South America

La Liga

Leaders Barcelona continue to keep a five-point gap against Atletico Madrid as the Spanish top flight enters matchday 21.

Barca take on 11th-place Girona on the road Sunday, while Atleti are at home the previous day against sixth-place Getafe. While Barcelona have the far easier matchup, the unpredictable nature of La Liga this season leaves nearly every game wide open.

That’s not to say that the Catalan giants haven’t dominated the competition domestically for much of this season. Barcelona are 14-4-2 entering matchday 21, with Lionel Messi sharp as always with a league-leading 18 goals and 10 assists. By comparison, two teams (Huesca and Valladolid) have each scored just 17 total goals as a team thus far this season.

While Philippe Coutinho started against Leganes last weekend, and put in an underwhelming performance, manager Ernesto Valverde said he was pleased to have the Brazilian back from injury.

“He is playing well and always wants the ball,” he told reporters. “But sometimes he is more successful than on other occasions. We are delighted with him and how he is playing; we want him to continue doing what he has been doing.”

Real Madrid, who catapulted Sevilla for third place after defeating them 2-0 last weekend, play on Sunday against 12th-place Espanyol. It could prove yet another chance for Los Blancos to show that they’re rebounding after a poor start to the season.

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