The Bundesliga offers the one match this weekend which has the most ramifications for the rest of the season for both clubs.

League leaders and perennial powerhouse Bayern Munich travels to face the defending champions and current second-place site Bayer Leverkusen in a monster showdown.

The two big clubs have already played twice this season. They shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in September before Leverkusen knocked Bayern out of the DFB-Pokal with a 1-0 win in December.

Both teams have qualified for the Champions League knockout rounds with Leverkusen advancing directly to the round-of-16 and Bayern playing a two-leg playoff against Celtic; they won the first leg 2-1 in Scotland with the second leg set for Tuesday in Munich.

That could give a leg up to Leverkusen who must treat this match as a must-win as they trail Bayern by eight points in the Bundesliga and would face an almost insurmountable 11-point deficit with a loss.

A win by the hosts would narrow the gap to a manageable five points and put real pressure on the Bayern side to get results domestically while trying to keep up with the Champions League big boys.

It would also keep treble hopes alive for Leverkusen, who won the domestic double last year only to fall in the Europa League final to Atalanta.

On the flip side, if Bayern win, it would mean they have the breathing room to focus on the Champions League slightly more than the Bundesliga, and don’t have the DFB-Pokal to worry about.

Even if the league ramifications don’t whet the appetite, another reason to watch is the players including Canadian sensation Alphonso Davies, German talisman Thomas Müller, and England national team captain on Bayern, plus the many other talented footballers on both sides.

In the EPL, Manchester City hosts Newcastle (Saturday at 10 a.m.) in what is shaping up to be an exciting fixture.

City fell 3-2 to Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League playoff on Tuesday and head to Spain for the second leg this Wednesday. Will they look ahead past Newcastle? Or will coach Pep Guardiola have his men focused on an excellent Newcastle side.

The two teams have identical 12-5-7 records with 41 points each and plus-13 point differentials. City has a few more goals scored with 46 compared to Newcastle’s 42.

Three points gained by either side puts them above Chelsea into fourth place. However, a draw means they stay below the guaranteed Champions League line and could even fall below Bournemouth, should that side win.

As one of the EPL teams featuring a regular starter in Italian international Sandro Tonali I tend to support Newcastle against English competition. Plus, they’re a fun team to watch.

Serie A offers a pair of big-time matchups with Lazio hosting Napoli (Saturday at Noon) and Juventus hosting Inter Milan (Sunday at 2:45 p.m.).

Napoli is a point up on Inter for the league lead, while Lazio is in fourth place and two points above fifth-place Juventus.

Lazio have won three-of-four including a 5-1 thumping of Monza last weekend and have defeated Napoli twice already this season: knocking them out of the Coppa Italia as well as taking full points in their first league match.

Napoli are on an 11-game unbeaten run, have won 8 of the last 11 meetings at the Stadio Olimpico, feature an experienced squad led by the ultra competitive coach Antonio Conte, and don’t have any other competitions to worry about this season.

Juve and Inter played out a very entertaining 4-4 draw in Turin during the reverse fixture, however, that will likely be difficult to replicate. Inter has been waiting for this match since last weekend, while Juventus had to play midweek.

Juventus won 2-1 at home over PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday in the Champions League playoff round. They have the return leg on Wednesday away, so with a very slim lead, the Inter match may not be the priority.

That could open the door for a bunch of goals, though most of them would be for the Nerazzurri.

Serie A and EPL matches are available on FuboTV Canada, Bundesliga matches can be streamed on DAZN Canada (both require paid subscriptions).

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