From the Bundesliga to Ligue 1, we preview the standout European games taking place this gameweek.
Union Berlin v RB Leipzig, Stadion An der Alten Försterei
Friday 12 December, 7:30 p.m. GMT (BBC iPlayer / Bundesliga YouTube)
Fittingly, the RB Leipzig talent supply line keeps rolling with the verve of a workforce up to their eyeballs in energy drinks.
Next up on the conveyor belt: Yan Diomande. Destination: Premier League?
Red Bull Arena has established itself as a beloved shopping centre for English clubs in recent years, with Ibrahima Konate, Timo Werner, Naby Keita, Christopher Nkunku, Dominik Szoboszlai, Josko Gvardiol, Benjamin Sesko and Xavi Simons all sold to UK outfits for €40 million and upward since 2018.
That’s not to mention Dani Olmo or Dayot Upamecano, who left for Barcelona and Bayern Munich, respectively, for similarly chunky fees across the same period.
It would come as a shock to nobody who has seen Diomande dazzle this season to see the teenage winger become the latest lucrative export. Last Saturday’s hat trick against Eintracht Frankfurt made it seven goals and four assists across 15 appearances this campaign, with only Harry Kane (6) making more appearances in Kicker’s Team of the Weekend than Diomande’s three.
It’s been a breakneck rise for the Ivorian, who, having attended high school in Florida, was playing semi-professionally in the United Premier Soccer League just two years ago. For most of last season, he was plying his trade in Spain’s fifth tier for Leganes’ second team.
For a deeper dive on the 19-year-old, check out Seb Stafford-Bloor’s latest Bundesliga briefing for The Athletic.
Diomande will back himself to continue his fine form against a Union Berlin side who fell 3-1 to struggling Wolfsburg last Saturday.
Victory at relegation-threatened St. Pauli in late November was the first league win Steffen Baumgart’s side had celebrated in more than a month, and they will be outsiders against a visiting team that has lost just once in all competitions (a 3-1 defeat at Hoffenheim in November) since being lashed 6-0 at Bayern Munich on opening night.
Alaves v Real Madrid, Estadio de Mendizorrrotza
Sunday 14 December, 8 p.m. GMT (Premier Sports 1)
He may not be in the pañolada postcode yet, but Xabi Alonso is very much in win-or-bust territory at Real Madrid.
Wednesday’s home defeat against Manchester City leaves the Spaniard with just three wins across his last 10 games, but fans inside the Bernabeu stopped short of the white handkerchief-waving protest that often marks the death throes of a Los Blancos head coach.
Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso is under intense pressure. (Alberto Gardin / Eurasia Sport Images / Getty Images)
Perhaps it was in recognition of a reasonably decent performance against old nemesis Pep Guardiola, as fans got behind a high-energy start that saw Madrid take the lead despite missing eight players through injury, including unused substitute Kylian Mbappe.
Goalscorer Rodrygo ran to the bench to hug Alonso, with the Brazilian winger joining Jude Bellingham after the game in insisting that the team is united behind their under-pressure boss, whose frayed relationship with Vinicius Junior has been widely publicized.
“I think the manager’s been great. I’ve personally got a great relationship with him, a lot of the lads do as well,” Bellingham told TNT Sports.
“No one’s downing tools, no one’s complaining, moaning, thinking the season’s over.”
It was a markedly different atmosphere inside the stadium from three nights earlier, when whistles had cascaded down from the terraces following a miserable 2-0 home defeat to Celta Vigo.
The loss saw Barcelona, which has won all six league games since the Clasico defeat in late October, open up a four-point lead atop La Liga ahead of its home fixture against Osasuna. With that in mind, Alonso may not survive another misstep at midtable Alaves.
Having given the leaders a scare at the Camp Nou in late November, Eduardo Coudet’s side moved up to 11th with a hard-fought win at home to Real Sociedad last Saturday, with Lucas Boye’s penalty enough to decide the contest.
Roma v Como, Stadio Olimpico
Monday 15 December, 7:45 p.m. GMT (DAZN)
Just a fortnight ago, Gian Piero Gasperini wistfully vowed to try and “sleep a bit longer” to preserve Roma’s “dream” of a first Scudetto since 2001. Like an alarm on a freezing winter morning, it has been a rather rude awakening in the capital.
Three 1-0 losses in a month have poured icy water over the Giallorossi’s Serie A title ambitions, with last Sunday’s defeat at a Cagliari side which had not won a game since mid-September the most sobering yet.
Narrow defeats to a rejuvenated Milan and reigning champions Napoli were far easier to swallow, and a victory in Sardinia would have seen Roma stay within a point of the leading duo.
Yet to live by the 1-0, it seems, is to die by the 1-0. Incredibly, Gasperini’s team has won four and lost six by that scoreline across all competitions this season, a reflection of its respective strengths at either end of the pitch.
Anchored by goalkeeper Mile Svilar and a central defensive trio of Gianluca Mancini, Evan Ndicka and Mario Hermoso, Roma comfortably boasts the meanest defensive record in the division.
Breached just eight times in 14 league games to date, Monday’s visitors, Como, are their closest challengers with 11 conceded across the same stretch.
Yet, unexpectedly for a coach whose free-scoring approach became his signature style at Atalanta, there has been scarcely little action at the other goalmouth. No side in the top half has scored fewer than Roma’s 15 goals, with Inter netting more than double (32) their tally.
Strikers Artem Dovbyk, Paulo Dybala and Evan Ferguson have mustered just five goals between them across a combined 40 starts.
Como had been neck-and-neck with Roma’s miserly backline before shipping four at Inter last Saturday, a chastening defeat that ended an unbeaten run stretching back to the end of August.
Marseille fans believe a title push could be on this season. (Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images)
Marseille v Monaco, Stade Velodrome
Sunday 14 December, 7:45 p.m. GMT (Amazon Prime PPV / Ligue 1+)
Missed opportunities have been the story of Marseille’s season to date.
It has been the tale from the very outset, when Rennes went down to 10 inside the first 30 minutes of their Ligue 1 curtain-raiser. Roberto De Zerbi’s side conspired to lose, and failure to capitalize on good momentum has been a curse ever since.
A five-game winning streak, kick-started by a famous win over Paris Saint-Germain, came to a screeching halt with defeat at shock leaders Lens and the late surrendering of a lead at home to Angers.
Les Olympiens reaffirmed their title credentials by responding with three straight wins, only to repeat their late home collapse against Toulouse before falling at Lille courtesy of an early Ethan Mbappe strike last Friday.
With PSG showing a rare vulnerability, Marseille have all the tools to mount a serious bid for a first Ligue 1 title since 2010 if they can find consistency. Mason Greenwood, with 10 goals in 14 league games, leads the Golden Boot race as the focal point of the league’s top scoring side and scored a brace at Union Saint-Gilloise midweek to put his side on track to secure Champions League progression.
In Monaco, they face a side for whom consistency seems an alien concept. Wins over PSG and Galatasaray have come in the same month that they were routed 4-1 at Rennes, lost at midtable Brest and were held to a 2-2 draw by Cypriot side Pafos.
Like their hosts on Sunday, midweek victory in the Champions League lifted them to nine points, but it is domestically that Sebastian Pocognoli’s side desperately needs to find form if it is to return to Europe’s top table next year.
The omens are not good. Those two late slip-ups are all that have prevented Marseille from boasting a perfect home record in Ligue 1, with only Atalanta winning at Stade Velodrome this season.
What’s more, Monaco don’t travel well: they’ve lost four of their seven league away games, winning only at struggling Nantes and Auxerre.
Milan v Sassuolo, San Siro
Sunday 14 December, 11:30 a.m. GMT (TNT Sports 1 / DAZN)
As the big guns make their move in the Serie A title race, leaders Milan boast an unwanted privilege that their rivals do not: no European football.
It may not be where the seven-time Champions League winners want to be, but the relative lack of midweek commitments is a major advantage for Massimiliano Allegri as he seeks to steer the Rossoneri to their first Scudetto since 2022, when Stefano Pioli ended an 11-year wait for the crown.
Unbeaten since stumbling at home to Cremonese on opening day, Milan have handled the big games in the manner of would-be champions. Victories over reigning champions Napoli, arch-rivals Inter and early challengers Roma were huge statements of intent, and even when they haven’t quite been good enough to win, they’ve made sure not to lose, holding onto a 0-0 draw in Juventus after Christian Pulisic’s penalty miss.
That was a rare low point in what is shaping up to be another fantastic season for the American, who is already up to nine goals in all competitions after firing in 17 last campaign.
Christian Pulisic and AC Milan are taking advantage of the absence of European competition. (Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Even fever can’t keep him down, as the 27-year-old dragged himself off the bench at half-time to score a brace and change the game in a 3-2 comeback triumph at Torino on Monday.
“Two days ago I was truly dead. Today I felt much better,” Pulisic, joint-top scorer in Serie A alongside Inter’s Lautaro Martinez, told DAZN after the game.
Above Napoli on goal difference, Pulisic and company will be hoping for a smoother ride at the San Siro on Sunday, but may not have it all their way against a Sassuolo side that has the potential to trouble anyone.
Fabio Grosso’s side won 3-0 away at Atalanta in November and head to Milan on the back of a 3-1 win against Fiorentina, the division’s only winless side, last weekend.
