The eighth round of matches in the Italian top flight season of 2018/19 opens on Friday night when Torino, who are likely to feature Ola Aina and Nicholas N’Koulou in defence, host Raman Chisbah’s Frosinone at Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino.
Saturday’s action kicks off at the Sardegna Arena with Cagliari at home to Orji Okonkwo’s Bologna (who are chasing a third win from their last four Serie A matches), before moving on to the Dacia Arena where William Troost-Ekong and Seko Fofana’s Udinese will welcome Juventus for an 5 pm.
The Old Lady boast a 100 percent record thus far and will be targeting an eighth straight win to ensure they head into the upcoming international break safe in the knowledge that they have laid the perfect platform for the defence of their championship.
Franck Kessie’s Milan will look to keep up their form when they host Chievo at the San Siro in one of three afternoon matches on Sunday (the others being Atalanta v Sampdoria and Lazio v Fiorentina) before Napoli play host to Sassuolo at Stadio San Paolo.
And the African theme is set to continue into the last match of the weekend, as goalkeeper Alfred Gomis turns out between the posts for SPAL in their home clash with Kwadwo Asamoah and Keita Balde’s Internazionale. The Nerazzurri are fresh from three straight wins in Serie A and looking to underline their credentials as challengers to Juventus and Napoli.
Fans are in for front row fiery La Liga action as Valencia and log leaders Barcelona battle it out, while Mubaraka Wakaso’s Deportivo Alaves will test themselves against Real Madrid.
The weekend’s action begins at San Mames when Athletic Bilbao look to break a five-game winless streak in the league when they host a Real Sociedad side which has lost three of their last five outings.
Alaves host Real Madrid in what promises to be a thrilling clash on Saturday. Featuring Ghanaian winger Wakaso as a regular, the Babazorros have been one of the surprise packages of the Spanish top flight thus far. However, after picking up just one point from their last two outings, there is a sense that their early-season momentum is running out, and the visit of Los Blancos may be coming at just the wrong time for coach Abelardo and his team.
Karl Toko Ekambi will look for another La Liga goal for Villarreal when they head to Espanyol, before Sevilla – who are on a four-game winning streak across all competitions and have scored a whopping 17 goals in the sequence – welcome Sofiane Boufal’s Celta de Vigo to Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
The round wraps up on Sunday night with the marquee match between Valencia and Barcelona at Estadio de Mestalla. The hosts shrugged off a run of four winless games across all competitions when they defeated Real Sociedad 1-0 away from last week, with a goal from Kevin Gameiro.
Barcelona, meanwhile, have picked up just two points from the last nine up for grabs in La Liga. Last weekend they could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Athletic Bilbao, needing a late equaliser from Munir El Haddadi – a Spanish-born forward of Moroccan descent.
Key match stats
Valencia v Barcelona – Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 58
Valencia wins 12
Barcelona wins 31
Draws 15
Atletico Madrid v Real Betis – Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 43
Atletico wins 19
Betis wins 11
Draws 13
Deportivo Alaves v Real Madrid – Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 16
Alaves wins 1
Madrid wins 13
Draws 2
Udinese v Juventus – Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 46
Udinese wins 8
Juve wins 31
Draws 7
Lazio v Fiorentina – Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 48
Lazio wins 27
Fiorentina wins 12
Draws 9
Napoli v Sassuolo – Head-to-Head, all competitions
Matches played 10
Napoli wins 5
Sassuolo wins 1
Draws 4
Fixtures: 5-7 October
Friday 5 October
7:30 pm: Torino v Frosinone – Live on SS8
8 pm: Athletic Bilbao v Real Sociedad – Live on SS7 & SelGO4
Saturday 6 October
12 pm: Girona v Eibar – Live on SS7 & SelGO4
2 pm: Cagliari v Bologna – Live on SS8
3:15 pm: Getafe v Levante – Live on SS7 & SelGO4
5 pm: Udinese v Juventus – Live on SS8/SS10 & SelGO2
7:30 pm: Empoli v Roma – Live on SS8 & SelGO4
7:45 pm: Leganes v Rayo Vallecano – Live on SS7/SS10 & SelGO2
Sunday 7 October
11 am: Real Valladolid v Huesca – Live on SS7/SS10 & SelGO2
11:30 am: Genoa v Parma – Live on SS8 & SelGO4
2 pm: Lazio v Fiorentina – Live on SS5
2 pm: Milan v Chievo – Live on SS8
3:15 pm: Atletico Madrid v Real Betis – Live on SS7 & SelGO4
5 pm: Napoli v Sassuolo – Live on SS8
5:30 pm: Espanyol v Villarreal – Live on SS4
5:30 pm: Sevilla v Celta de Vigo – Live on SS7 & SelGO4
7:30 pm: SPAL v Internazionale – Live on SS8/SS10 & SelGO2
7:45 pm: Valencia v Barcelona – Live on SS7 & SelGO4
Enjoy pulsating front row football on your world of champions and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtags #SerieAonDStv, #SerieAonGOtv, #LaLigaonDStv and #LaLigaonGOtv.