⚽️El Clásico Nacional (Feat. RAMSES SANDOVAL)
Chivas and Club América are Mexico's historic heavyweights. Plus: Man United meet Liverpool in the FA Cup.
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It’s been called El Super Clásico, and El Clásico de Clásicos. But Ramses Sandoval, a commentator for TelevisaUnivision and my guest on this week’s show, offered El Clásico Nacional. Chivas de Guadalajara and Club América remain Mexico’s most-supported clubs, even with others like Tigres UANL and Toluca rising to contention and Chivas somewhat falling away. Their match deserves a name of its own.
There are many great derbies of Liga MX, but this one is its most richly historic, beginning after Chivas—“the Goats”—won seven out of nine championships between 1957 and 1965. At the same time, Club América was taken over by Emilio Azcárraga Milmo, owner of Mexican television giant Telesistema Mexicano (predecessor to today’s Televisa), and the club from Mexico City started signing players from abroad with big money. By 1966, they’d followed up second-place finishes in 1960 and 1962 by winning the league, and the feud began.
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From a city known for Mariachi in the state of Jalisco, the home of tequila, Chivas has a policy of only fielding Mexican nationals to this day. (The closest to an exception was the signing of Cade Cowell, the California-born winger who’s registered as a homegrown player with Liga MX.) América, the team from the swanky and cosmopolitan capital, were bringing in players from Brazil and beyond to compete—and fuel the feud. As the owner of a television network, Azcárraga had produced his share of telenovelas, and he dreamed up another one where his own team would be the villain.
“With their Mexican players, Chivas are the good guys,” Azcárraga said. “But we are going to buy the best foreigners and become the bad guys.”
And besides, the Chivas policy has had its costs. In recent years, the club has been forced to pay a premium for top Mexican talent from other clubs who know they’re limited in where they can look. América have been regular league winners since the ‘60s, but the Rojiblancos from Guadalajara have just four titles since 1970. Get the full story in my conversation with Ramses above!
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THE HEADLINES
➡️The Champions League quarterfinal draw took place Friday morning. The list of matchups:
ARSENAL vs BAYERN MUNICH
REAL MADRID vs MAN CITY
PSG vs BARCELONA
ATLETICO MADRID vs BORUSSIA DORTMUND
➡️Lautaro Martinez skied a penalty to send Inter Milan packing in the Round of 16, but a new camera angle shows how the ball bounced up as he hit it.
➡️Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick scored twice in stoppage time of their Europa League match with Qarabag to maintain the German outfit’s unbeaten record this season, which now stands at 37 matches. It’s their second comeback from 2-0 down against the Azerbaijani side.
➡️England manager Gareth Southgate said Arsenal defender Ben White had asked not to be considered for national-team selection through Edu, the Arsenal sporting director.
➡️Brighton fans responded to Roma supporters’ crass remembrance of Queen Elizabeth II in the first leg of their Europa League tie with a banner of their own on home turf: “TOTTI ADORA L’ANANAS SULLA PIZZA” / “Totti adores pineapple on pizza.”
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FRIDAY
CHELSEA WOMEN vs ARSENAL WOMEN (3pm ET/8pm GMT)
The two most successful clubs in English women’s football put their title aspirations to the test. Arsenal have won 15 league titles, though just three in the Women’s Super League era that’s been dominated by Chelsea with six crowns. The Blues are top of the table on 37 points, ahead of Man City on goal difference, and Arsenal sit third on 34.
SATURDAY
WOLVES vs COVENTRY CITY (8:15am ET, 12:15pm GMT)
There’s potential for FA Cup magic here as Championship Coventry travel to Molineux with a spot in the semifinals on the line. Wolves are a good side, working their way up the top half of the Premier League table, but Coventry are having a decent season of their own in the second division. Plus they beat up the cinderellas of Maidstone United in the last round, so maybe some of that magic dust rubbed off on them.
LUTON TOWN vs FOREST (11am ET, 3pm GMT)
One of the few Premier League matches of the weekend is a tasty relegation scrap. Nottingham Forest are just three points clear of Luton and the drop zone, with a points deduction for alleged financial improprieties (possibly) on the way. Kenilworth Road has been a difficult place to go for better teams than Forest, and Rob Edwards will be desperate for a result: his Luton side squandered a 3-0 lead away at Bournemouth in midweek that would have brought them level with their opponents here.
MAN CITY vs NEWCASTLE (1:30pm ET, 5:30pm GMT)
It’s not great times at Newcastle at the moment. The Magpies have taken 1.1 points per game over their last 10 in the Premier League and have sunk down to 10th. The FA Cup is an opportunity to salvage something for Eddie Howe in a season where Newcastle were exposed in the Champions League and ravaged by injury at a crucial juncture. Too bad they’ve drawn a Man City side chasing a second-straight treble.
CHIVAS DE GUADALAJARA vs CLUB AMÉRICA (11:05pm ET)
Get the full rundown on this one up top!
SUNDAY
CHELSEA vs LEICESTER CITY (8:45am ET, 12:45pm GMT)
More FA Cup fireworks are a possibility here. Chelsea are the favorites at Stamford Bridge, but Mauricio Pochettino’s side are always capable of turning in a poor performance and Leicester are flying at the top of the Championship. Well, they’ve lost three of their last five in the league, but they’re still top. Can they beclown the Blues here?
WEST HAM vs ASTON VILLA (10am ET, 2pm ET)
Fourth against seventh in the Premier League, as Aston Villa look to get their Top Four push back on track after a stinging defeat to closest rivals Tottenham last time out. Unai Emery will be looking to show the hecklers suggesting this season could peter out like his Champions League-chasing campaign did with Arsenal. West Ham are highly difficult opponents, though, particularly now they’re getting their squad back healthy, and they’re chasing European football of their own next season.
MAN UNITED vs LIVERPOOL (11:30am ET, 3:30pm GMT)
The old rivalry rises. One of the two most decorated teams in England will have to get past the other if they want to add another FA Cup to the trophy cabinet, and Jürgen Klopp is seeking the second -uple of a possible quadruple before he heads out the door at Liverpool. For United, much like Newcastle, this is an opportunity to try to salvage a poor season. Turfed out of the race for a Champions League spot and every other competition, Erik ten Hag could use a marquee victory like this. Even if he can secure this trophy, he could still be out the door this summer under far different circumstances from Klopp.
INTER vs NAPOLI (3:45pm ET, 7:45pm GMT)
It’s been a poor season for the Neapolitans, no doubt about it. Francesco Calzona is their third manager so far, and his side were shoved out of the Champions League at the hands of Barcelona this week. They also crashed out of the Coppa Italia with a 4-0 thrashing from Frosinone in the Round of 16. The champions sit seventh in the table, 31 points off the top.
The top, of course, is Inter, who have been imperious in Serie A—and most everywhere else until it all came undone against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League this week. This one will really be about consolation prizes with Inter having all but wrapped up the Scudetto, but there will be some fantastic talent on show.
ATLÉTICO MADRID vs BARCELONA (4pm ET, 8pm GMT)
The aforementioned Atléti will be looking to toast their progression to the Champions League quarterfinals at Inter’s expense with a second big victory of the week. This one is certainly not about consolation prizes: Barcelona are third, six points clear of Diego Simeone’s side as both chase a ticket to next season’s UCL. Atlético are fourth, just two points clear of Athletic Bilbao.
Barça may just as likely be looking above them: they’ll want to pull ahead of the cinderellas of Girona, who are just a point better off in second, but could Xavi have a sneaky eye on Real Madrid at the top? The great rivals are eight points apart with 10 games to go, but there’s a six-pointer El Clásico coming up next month. With a Champions League quarterfinal to look forward to as well, maybe this season is not lost for the much-maligned manager and his team.
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THE FPL STOCK MARKET
This week is basically a disaster if you’re like me and already used your Free Hit. Only eight of 20 Premier League sides are in action, meaning the pool of active players is shockingly small. That’s particularly true because apart from Aston Villa, Tottenham, and West Ham, the teams involved do not have too many players that most FPL managers would have signed up in normal circumstances. It’s a perfect Free Hit opportunity, then, and I’d have a look at these candidates if I had mine:
⬆️Heung-min Son (£9.9m) and Brennan Johnson (£5.8m) and Dejan Kulusevski (£6.8m) and Sergio Romero (£5.0m) of Tottenham.
⬆️Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz (£4.5m), Timothy Castagne (£4.5m), Antonee Robinson (£4.5m), Alex Iwobi (£5.3m) and Harry Wilson (£5.3m).
⬆️Jarrod Bowen (£8.0m) and Mohammed Kudus (£6.8m) and Lucas Pacquetá (£6.0m) for West Ham.
⬆️Yoane Wissa (£5.6m) from Brentford.
⬆️Burnley’s David Datro Fofana (£5.0m).
⬆️Luton’s Tahith Chong (£4.7m) and Alfie Doughty (£4.7m).
⬆️Most anyone in the Villa midfield + Ollie Watkins.⚽︎