Big Midweek: Arne Slot, Real Madrid v Man City, Lamine Yamal, Newcastle, League One title clash | OneFootball

Liverpool and Arne Slot could really do with a stress-free wee-ahh, forget it. They’ve got Inter away. Ideal.

It’s another busy midweek as Manchester City look to continue their run against Real Madrid, Newcastle United hope to avoid more away-day woes, there’s a League One title clash, and Lamine Yamal has to prove he isn’t “just a sh*t Estevao”. Kind of.

Strap in, folks…

Game to watch: Real Madrid v Manchester City

The best thing about the new Champions League group phase is that there tends to be an unmissable match that speaks for itself every single matchday. Real Madrid against Manchester City certainly fits the bill.

They met in the Champions League play-offs last season after miserable league-phase campaigns, but City weren’t out of their funk by then, losing 3-2 at the Etihad in the first leg and then 3-1 in the Spanish capital. This time, there is less on the line, and Pep Guardiola’s side are looking very, very good, while Madrid are feeling sorry for themselves after a shock home defeat to Celta Vigo in La Liga.

One defeat for Real Madrid sparks a crisis, and Xabi Alonso faced some awkward questions afterwards. He really needs a win, but it won’t be easy against a team in good form and full of confidence. Just look at how Rayan Cherki has been strutting his stuff.

City brushed aside Sunderland on Saturday, but there are clearly some defensive frailties. Conceding four at Fulham tells a bigger story, and they gave up too many chances; Gianluigi Donnarumma was fortunate to go home with a clean sheet. But they did. And Real Madrid didn’t. Because they lost.

It’s destined to be a cracker. These big games can be massively underwhelming because of two cagey teams too scared to lose, but City’s leaky defence combined with Madrid’s world-class attack makes that unlikely. And it’s only a league-phase match, innit? Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham make up an irresistible attacking trio, and City’s back four is there for the taking.

And there’s the added spice of Guardiola going up against Alonso, who played under him at Bayern and absorbed much of what has shaped his own rise as a manager.

Manager to watch: Arne Slot

Not much to report over at Anfield, is there? Just another normal week of normal Liverpool Football Club being completely normal. Their best player hasn’t come out and said he hates everyone or everything.

As it goes…

How Liverpool react to consecutive draws against promoted teams is suddenly secondary, with their entire world revolving around one man: Mohamed Salah. But he won’t be in Milan for the Reds’ big Champions League test against Inter, which means we can’t scrutinise his body language, facial expressions, warm-up… anything.

This will allow the football to at least try to take centre stage. Salah stole the show after another shocking result and performance from the Premier League champions, which ironically benefited Ibrahima Konate. Nobody was talking about the penalty he gave away as soon as Salah opened his mouth in the Elland Road mixed zone.

We’ve fallen into the trap. We’re yet to say anything unrelated to Salah. Moving on…

Liverpool’s performances have been well below par. Everyone knows that. The person tasked with solving things is the head coach. He has tweaked things in recent weeks. You can decide whether it has worked.

Konate has been a constant in the side despite several high-profile mistakes and poor performances. He seems undroppable. So does Cody Gakpo. But he’s out for three weeks. Slot will probably still find a way to play him. And typically, Federico Chiesa is unwell. We could see Dominik Szoboszlai – Liverpool’s best player this season – play on the right again.

But after dropping points against Sunderland and Leeds United, you have to fear for Slot and Liverpool going to San Siro, where Inter smashed Cesc Fabregas’ Como 4-0 on Saturday. It would be a tough game anyway against last season’s Champions League runners-up. Inter have won six out of eight at home in Serie A this season, scoring 21 goals and conceding only five. In Europe, they somehow only edged Kairat and then comfortably beat Slavia Prague 3-0.

If Slot finds the formula to get a result against Inter, it could be a turning point in Liverpool’s season. And then the anti-Salah narrative will spiral out of control.

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Team to watch: Newcastle United

Newcastle are away from home next. That’s a sentence that might produce sleepless nights in the north east.

Their record away from St James’ Park has been appalling this campaign. Their only Premier League win on the road came at Everton’s shiny new stadium. In the Champions League, at least, they thumped Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium. Marseille away was nowhere near as successful, though.

Next up for Eddie Howe’s side is Bayer Leverkusen, who beat City at the Etihad last time out. But they were beaten at Augsburg in the Bundesliga over the weekend, so there is certainly hope that Newcastle can get a result.

Alejandro Grimaldo not being fit cost Leverkusen on Saturday, and if he’s unavailable against the Magpies, that is a significant boost. But they still have some top players like Malik Tillman, Loic Bade and Aleix Garcia.

Newcastle could switch to a back five to combat Leverkusen’s similar structure, though there is a strong chance Tino Livramento and/or Lewis Hall get a rest. There are quite a few players Howe might fancy giving the night off, but can he really afford to?

Not only are the Magpies in need of some points in the Champions League, but they need to actually start winning games away from home. Proving they can beat a top opponent on the road would do their confidence the world of good and could spark a run of form. If they continue on their current away-day trajectory, they’ll be out of the Champions League before the last 16 and finishing in the bottom half of the Premier League.

Player to watch: Lamine Yamal

Salah won’t be the player to watch but a player watching from his sofa when Liverpool take on Inter at San Siro on Tuesday.

Instead, eyes will be on the “sh*t Estevao”, who needs to bounce back from getting bounced around at Stamford Bridge in Barcelona’s last Champions League encounter.

It’s not like Yamal has a point to prove to anyone, nor is he even thinking about that 3-0 defeat at Chelsea anymore, but it would be pretty cool if he served up a reminder of who’s boss. It’s not Estevao, is it, Lamine?

Barcelona face Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday night, and Yamal is expected to start on the right with Raphinha on the left. In Hansi Flick’s last home Champions League match, Barca put six past Olympiacos. They are at home again, back at Nou Camp in Europe for the first time since a 2-2 draw with Manchester United in the Europa League last 32, and their first Champions League game there since a 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich, both in the 2022/23 season.

It’s the perfect opportunity for Yamal and Barca to make a statement, and they both really should after what happened against Chelsea.

EFL game to watch: Stevenage v Cardiff

It’s 3rd v 1st in League One on Tuesday evening as Stevenage host Cardiff. If you’d told me three years ago that these two would be meeting in a top-of-the-table clash in the third tier, I’d have said, ‘Why are you telling me this?’.

Yet here we are. This timeline has delivered us a scenario in which Stevenage are involved in the biggest English Football League game of the week.

The Boro have the chance to close the gap to a single point, which would in turn give Bradford City the opportunity to go top when they travel to Port Vale. Stevenage have somehow won only one of their last six League One matches, and their games tend to be low scoring, which hardly screams ‘game to watch’. But it is probably the fixture with the most significance in the Football League this week.