Big matchups across Europe start the festive season with Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid and Spurs vs. Liverpool

Welcome to the final weekend before Christmas! The festive period either slows down or speeds up depending on where you follow your soccer with English clubs gearing up for their busiest run of games while other European rivals take a breather. Jonathan Johnson here so let’s get to it!

📺 Footy Fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Friday, December 20
🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Bayern Munich vs. RB Leipzig, 2:30 p.m. ➡️ ESPN Deportes
🇮🇹 Serie A: Hellas Verona vs. Milan, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EFL Championship: Luton Town vs. Derby County, 3 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network

Saturday, December 21
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EFL League One: Bristol Rovers vs. Wrexham AFC, 7:30 a.m. ➡️ Paramount+ 
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EPL: Aston Villa vs. Manchester City, 7:30 a.m. ➡️ USA Network
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EFL Championship: Sunderland vs. Norwich City, 10 a.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇪🇸 La Liga: Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid, 3 p.m. ➡️ ESPN Deportes

Sunday, December 22
🇫🇷 Coupe de France: Saint-Etienne vs. Olympique de Marseille, 8:45 a.m. ➡️ FS2
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EPL: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool, 11:30 a.m. ➡️ USA Network
🇮🇹 Serie A: Monza vs. Juventus, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇫🇷 Coupe de France: RC Lens vs. PSG, 3 p.m. ➡️ FS2

⚽ The Forward Line

😋 A festive European feast

The final weekend before Christmas promises to be absolutely stuffed full of soccer goodness with an array of strong offerings from across Europe. Starting in Germany and finishing in England — where the festive party will only just be getting started with Boxing Day to come next week — you will not be short of options for high-profile encounters in the coming days. From Bayern Munich vs. RB Leipzig to Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool, impactful games across the Bundesliga, La Liga and the English Premier League could drastically alter how some teams are looking at the table as the Christmas turkey is sliced for those who celebrate.

Friday: When it comes to the German Bundesliga, few fixtures move the needle as much as traditional giants Bayern Munich going up against relatively new upstarts RB Leipzig. Sure, it might not be Der Klassiker, but the Red Bulls’ domestic form is far more impressive than their continental showing regardless of the fact that Marco Rose could still pay for that premature European exit with his job. Bayern can open up a provisional seven-point lead at the summit in Germany this weekend depending on results and that might ultimately be enough to sustain Vincent Kompany and his men in the title race.

Saturday: There is not doubt about it that the major attraction on Saturday is in La Liga where Barcelona will host Atletico Madrid needing to win to keep Diego Simeone’s men at bay in the title race. Real Madrid are also putting pressure on Hansi Flick’s side but this is a chance for the Catalans to wrest back some control after surprisingly dropping maximum points over their last two home outings. Aston Villa hosting embattled Manchester City in the Premier League’s early game on Saturday is another worthy contender but pales in comparison given what is at stake in Catalonia thanks to both sides disputing the title rather than Villa and City’s patchy form.

Sunday: The Carabao Cup has paired Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool together in the semifinals after their respective victories in midweek and — fittingly — the two meet on Sunday in the EPL. The Reds lead the way with a game in hand over Chelsea and a two-point cushion while Spurs are 13 points back on Arne Slot’s side having played one game more. Ange Postecoglou’s men cannot afford to drop more points as they try to get back into European contention but will equally have their eyes on the two-legged League Cup affair early in 2025. Get ready for much more of this fixture because it will be played three times between now and the first week of February with another meeting in late April thrown in for good measure. 

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🔗 Midfield Link Play

✅ League Cup final four set

It was a busy midweek in the Carabao Cup with the quarterfinals producing 19 goals across the four games which ultimately saw Arsenal, Newcastle United, Spurs and Liverpool advancing. With the semifinals now set, we can project towards the first few months of 2025 knowing who stands a decent chance of silverware with Tottenham and Newcastle — in particular — likely to be highly motivated by the prospect of reaching Wembley Stadium over two legs. For two sides so starved of trophy success in recent years, 2025 could be a big year regardless of their Premier League hardships.

Quarterfinals: Arsenal edged past Crystal Palace 3-2 with Gabriel Jesus taking the opportunity to stake his claim for regular starting minutes by bagging all three Gunners goals. Mikel Arteta’s men came from 1-0 down to lead 3-1 before the Eagles educed the deficit and the Spaniard will be keen to show some appetite for success in the semifinals. They will face Newcastle who made surprisingly light work of Brentford in a 3-1 win which featured a Sandro Tonali brace despite reports that the Italy international is homesick. Elsewhere, Liverpool narrowly overcame Southampton to book their place against Spurs with Darwin Nunez netting a rare goal but the real excitement came on Thursday. Tottenham came out on top of a thriller with Manchester United 4-3 with Dominic Solanke scoring twice and Postecoglou’s men flirting with capitulation before making the game safe.

Semifinals: With the final four playing out over two legs, both semifinals are appealing in their own way with Arsenal going up against Newcastle and Spurs facing Liverpool. However, the potential final between any two of these four promises to be unmissable with the Gunners against the Reds most likely to be what many are hoping for in the final. As mentioned, Newcastle and Spurs could view this as a chance to win rare silverware so do not rule them out and it could come down to who handles their packed schedule best in early 2025.

🔗  Top Stories

👋 Marcus Rashford’s future: United’s England international was left out of squad again as Red Devils faced Spurs in the EFL Cup after manager Ruben Amorim said that he wants to ‘help Marcus,’ but the player looks to have not earned the right to play.

🔁 Inter Miami trade Leo Campana: What does this mean for Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and company with the talented Ecuador international on the move to the New England Revolution.

📅 MLS 2025 schedule: Messi and Miami kick things off and LA Galaxy to host San Diego FC while the league will also be taking a break during both the Club World Cup and the Gold Cup.

🏀 Trinity Rodman on Dennis: USWNT star breaks silence on Dennis Rodman and says he’s ‘not a dad’ in ‘Call Her Daddy’ interview where she spoke at length about her relationship with her father for the first time.

💰 The Back Line

💵 Best Bet

• EPL: Villa vs. City, Saturday, 7:30 a.m. ET
  💰 THE PICK: Draw and both to score (+320) — Villa host City as seventh in the EPL table meets fifth this Saturday. Pep Guardiola’s visitors are struggling in their title defense while Unai Emery’s hosts are erratic. Both sides come into this one off the back of losses while balancing UEFA Champions League action has proved testing for the Villans. Despite four straight losses away from home, Villa are unbeaten in seven EPL games at Villa Park. A 1-0 win last season helped to finish fourth and qualify for the UCL so another success here would mean consecutive home wins over City for the first time since 1993. City have now lost two of their last three EPL games that they have led in at half time and they also trail Villa by five points in the UCL although they are two points ahead in the domestic standings. Ageing players, misfiring attackers and absent defenders have all contributed to their current form which suggests that both teams scoring and taking a point apiece is not a bad shout ahead of this one.

For more picks, predictions, expert tips and the latest betting news, don’t miss out on CBSSports.com’s betting home page. 

📺 What’s on CBS Sports Golazo Network

☀️ Morning Footy (Weekdays 8-10 a.m.): Hosts Susannah Collins, Charlie Davies, Nico Cantor and Alexis Guerreros help fans get their day started on the network’s flagship morning show with highlights, interviews and the biggest soccer storylines. Morning Footy is also available in podcast form, so you’ll never have to miss an episode.

3️⃣ Attacking Third (Monday, Thursday,): The leading women’s soccer podcast and social brand is now a live studio show. The NWSL season is back and our coverage of the women’s game is stronger than ever. Our analysts will be breaking down the USWNT, NWSL and European domestic season all year long. And don’t miss Wednesday live streams on YouTube at 11 a.m. ET.

⚽  Call it What You Want (Monday and Thursday): A weekly podcast where Jimmy Conrad, Charlie Davies and Tony Meola cover all things USMNT and the state of the beautiful game in the United States. You can catch the show streaming live on YouTube every Monday at 1 p.m. ET and Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.  

🥅 Scoreline (Daily): Scoreline is the newest place for fans to catch up on all the biggest news and results impacting global football, match highlights from the top soccer competitions and all the can’t-miss goals from the day’s action, starting Thursday and airing seven days a week.

📺 How to watch: CBS Sports Golazo Network is a free 24/7 channel exclusively dedicated to offering unparalleled coverage of all the top soccer competitions worldwide. You can stream for free on the CBS Sports app, Pluto TV and Paramount+.