The 2019-20 German Bundesliga and Spanish LaLiga football seasons kick off this weekend with mouthwatering clashes at the Allianz Arena and the Cathedral in San Mames. Champions League finalist Tottenham Hotspur travel to Manchester City for the biggest fixture of week two in the Premier League.
We begin in France;
OLYMPIQUE LYON v ANGERS SCO – FRI. 16 AUG 2019, 19.45HRS
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The Sylvinho era at Olympique Lyon got off to a winning start at Stade Louis II as Les Gones enjoyed a comprehensive 3-0 victory over ten-man Monaco. It is difficult to evaluate how good this Lyon team is because Monaco offered very little on the night. On the other side, Angers got their season off to a dream start with a 3-1 win over Bordeaux, coming from behind thanks to goals from Jeff Reine-Adélaïde, Mathias Pereira Lage and Thomas Mangani. Both teams will be motivated for Friday evening with the winner becoming the league leaders at least for the night. This encounter will see two central strikers Moussa Dembélé and Rachid Alioui face off in a gun-slinging duel.
VERDICT – Lyon will aim to pick up from where they stopped at Monaco last weekend in their first home match of the season. Angers are proving to be a difficult opponent to beat but haven’t managed a victory in any of their last eight meetings against Lyon. Losing the quality Jeff Reine-Adélaïde offers to Friday’s opponent is a blow. OL are favorites at home.
RENNES v PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN – SUN. 18 AUG 2019, 20.00HRS
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Both Rennes and PSG got off to winning starts in their league opening matches. Les Rouge et Noir survived going a man down and veteran defender Jeremy Morel scored on his debut for Rennes. The future of Neymar has dominated the headlines over the summer in Paris but without him Thomas Tuchel’s side had no problems in getting the better of the Crocodiles at the Parc des Princes. PSG kicked off their defence of the Ligue 1 title with a 3-0 home win. Kylian Mbappé picked up from where he stopped; he has now scored 21 league goals in 2019, as many as Lionel Messi. Nobody has scored more. Can we expect same performance from the French attacker at Roazhon Park?
VERDICT – These two teams met in the Trophée des Champions earlier in the month with PSG getting the better of their host. Rennes have lost key attacker Ismaila Sarr to Watford in the summer transfer window and will place emphasis on being strong at the back. Julien Stéphan is likely to continue with his three centre-backs system when the Parisiens come to town. PSG have won on their last four trips to Rennes, they have enough quality for another victory on the road.
To Germany;
BAYERN MUNICH v HERTHA BERLIN – FRI. 16 AUG 2019, 19.30HRS
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Bayern Munich will look to hit the ground running when they host Hertha Berlin on Friday. Last season title race photo finish with rivals Borussia Dortmund and the Super Cup defeat to the same opponent is a reminder that any false start could hurt their bid to make it eight consecutive Bundesliga titles in a row. Hertha Berlin have taken points off Bayern in each of the past three seasons, and they will travel to Munich with confidence after their 5-1 Cup win over fourth-division Eichstätt. Ante Covic is the new man in charge of Hertha and one of his offensive weapons is the Belgian attacker Dodi Lukebakio who scored four goals for Fortuna Dusseldorf including a hat-trick against the Bavarians in the Bundesliga last season.
VERDICT – Bayern are unbeaten in 24 Bundesliga home games against Hertha (W19, D5) and haven’t conceded in the last five. The home team has not lost on Matchday 1 since 2002 (1W4, 3D); Die Roten have won their last seven opening fixtures on their way to the title, while Hertha have won a club-record four in a row. The Bavarian giants will be keen to open the campaign on a positive note in front of their fans and they should deliver.
BORUSSIA DORTMUND v AUGSBURG – SAT. 17 AUG 2019, 14.30HRS
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Augsburg have their work cut out when they travel to Signal Iduna Park to face Marco Reus and co in the opening game of the new Bundesliga season. Die Borussen lost out on the title by inches, dropping points in winnable games and one of such was 2-1 defeat at WWK Arena to Augsburg. Martin Schmidt’s team finished fourth-bottom last season but had two of their most memorable games coming against Dortmund. A dramatic 4-3 defeat at Signal Iduna Park in October was followed up with a spirited game and victory in March at home to put a dent of Dortmund title hopes. BVB fans haven’t forgotten the March defeat and their visitors arrive low in confidence suffering a shock 2-1 DFB Cup defeat at fourth-tier outfit Verl.
VERDICT – Borussia Dortmund created Bundesliga history last season by scoring at least twice in all 17 Bundesliga home matches. The Yellow & Blacks should have too much firepower for Augsburg whose new goalkeeper Tomas Kubek could be in for a busy afternoon. Anything short of a home victory would be scandalous.
To Spain;
ATHLETIC BILBAO v BARCELONA – FRI. 16 AUG 2019, 20.00HRS
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Barcelona kickstart their LaLiga crown with a difficult away trip to Athletic Bilbao. The home team has had a quiet summer with their Basque only policy limiting what they can do in the transfer market. That isn’t the case in Barcelona with the Catalans shelling over €200m on Frenkie De Jong, Antoine Griezmann and others to strengthen the squad better. Athletic have been very tough to play against at San Mames since Gaizka Garitano was appointed. They are unbeaten in 14 home league matches heading into this one and with Messi almost certainly missing; they will fancy they can get a result.
VERDICT – Both league meetings last term finished level – 0-0 at San Mames and 1-1 at Camp Nou. Barcelona have won on four of their last six competitive visits to Bilbao overall. The home team will be fired up against their visitors and we expect a very competitive game on the opening day of LaLiga. Ernesto Valverde’s team are slight favorites and Antoine Griezmann will aim to continue his fine run at the San Mames as he makes his Barca bow.
CELTA VIGO v REAL MADRID – SAT. 17 AUG 2019, 16.00HRS
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Real Madrid kick off the new season at Avanca-Balaidos in Vigo with Eden Hazard is expected to start his Los Blancos career guns blazing. It has been a relative poor preseason for Zidane team but the capital club need a good start to end Barca’s dominance in the Spanish top flight. Celta Vigo start the new campaign with Fran Escriba after he managed to secure their top flight status last season. The former Villarreal coach will be saddled with the responsibility of restoring the club back to the upper ends of the league and possibly securing European football once again but an opening game against one of the league giants is huge test for the Galician club.
VERDICT – It hasn’t been the ideal summer Zinedine Zidane expected at Real Madrid but the Frenchman has to get on with his job. Real Madrid beat Celta Vigo in both league matches last season. Los Blancos league form must improve if the ambition is to catch up with Barcelona. Real Madrid have enough quality to win at Celta and should do so.
To England;
SOUTHAMPTON v LIVERPOOL – SAT. 17 AUG 2019, 15.00HRS
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Southampton are aiming to bounce back from the Burnley defeat as well as improve their record of winning only one of their last 20 opening home Premier League fixtures. Liverpool will be in high spirits having followed up their opening-day victory over Norwich City by beating Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup in midweek. The Reds did it the hard way – penalty shootout and Jurgen Klopp will have heavy legs to deal with when they travel to the South Coast. Southampton is the club the German tactician has suffered defeat to the most since he became the Reds manager. Such information would be welcomed by his fellow country man Ralph Hasenhüttl as he prepares for the first home league match of the season.
VERDICT – Liverpool could equal their best ever Premier League winning run of 11 consecutive victories if they beat Southampton on Saturday. The Saints have scored and conceded in 13 of their last 14 Premier League matches at home. We expect goal mouth action at both ends considering that Liverpool have been a bit sloppy at the start of this season and Alisson Becker not in goal. Over 2.5 goals is expected at the Saint Marys Stadium.
MANCHESTER CITY v TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR – SAT. 17 AUG 2019, 17.30HRS
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Manchester City picked up where they left last season with their five-star performance at West Ham. Tottenham Hotpsur made a winning start to the season and they will offer Guardiola’s team a different challenge, one to evaluate their level at this early stage of the campaign. City are hoping to extend their excellent record in opening home league matches of a top-flight season while Spurs are seeking to avoid a seventh successive away Premier League defeat for the first time since 2000.
VERDICT – Manchester City beat Tottenham Hotspur in three of the four meetings in all competitions last season. City have won their last four Premier League matches against Spurs but have never won five consecutive league matches against them. Spurs are no slouches; we are guaranteed a game and half at the Etihad with the prospect of both defenses tested. We expect both teams to score.
This wraps up our FESIG preview for the week. Predict and win big by visiting our Sports shop Babaijebu.ng for mouthwatering offers in all 39 matches available in the French, German, Spanish and English leagues for the weekend.