Juventus have had more joy in the Coppa Italia than Serie A in recent seasons. After dismantling Cagliari tonight they face Empoli at home in the quarters. Another deep run beckons in what is likely to be their best and only chance of silverware yet again for another season.

Gladbach 0 Dortmund 1

Another important win to keep the momentum going for Dortmund. It wasn’t always easy, but ultimately the visitors managed the pace of this DFB Pokal quarterfinal much better than their hosts, whose season, and in turn Marco Rose’s tenure runs the risk of completely fizzling out.

My making the semis BVB now have a genuine chance of silverware this season, though the knocks taken by Jadon Sancho and Raphael Guerrerio are a bit of a dampener for Edin Terzic. With Bayern and Sevilla up next, Dortmund will hope neither player’s injury is serious. 

This Football Midweek Jan 26-28

Another tantalizing set of fixtures in the Premier League as well as some great cup encounters in Spain and Italy this midweek.

Tuesday

Inter vs Milan — Big Coppa Italia quarterfinal

Betis vs La Real — Copa rematch of their brilliant weekend game

Southampton — League rematch of their not so brilliant cup game

Wednesday

Atalanta vs Lazio — Rematch of the 2019 Coppa final

Chelsea vs Wolves — First game post-Lampard for the Blues

Sevilla vs Valencia — Biggest Copa game of the round

Brighton vs Fulham — Huge relegation game 

Everton vs Leicester — Both clubs can dream this season

Thursday

Spurs vs Liverpool — Jose vs Klopp with stakes higher than December

This Football Weekend Jan 22-24

Another weekend of football means another round of interesting and important fixtures. They are some tricky games on the mainland and a pretty hyped up cup clash in England to look ahead to this time.

Friday

Gladbach vs Dortmund — Battle of the Borussias in a cramped fight for top 4

Saturday

Leverkusen vs Wolfsburg — 3rd vs 5th in another top 4 battle

Sevilla vs Cadiz — Andalusian sides both in the top half

Milan vs Atalanta — 1st vs 6th as Serie A’s two over-performers meet

La Real vs Betis — Always fun, both aiming for Europe

Monaco vs Marseille — South coast rivalry with European implications

Sunday

Verona vs Napoli — Tricky test at 9th place hosts for the visitors title aims

Rennes vs Lille — 5th vs 2nd between two evenly matched teams

Lazio vs Sassuolo — Tough test for hosts resurgence against bold visitors

United vs Liverpool — Not as hyped as last week’s clash but still big

Atletico vs Valencia — Spain’s 3rd and 4th biggest clubs

St Etienne vs Lyon — France’s biggest derby with both needing a win

This Football Midweek Jan 6

There is a lot of interesting football awaiting us on Wednesday, with some intriguing league action complimented by a tantalizing cup semi.

Milan vs Juve — Undefeated leaders welcome champions with plenty of questions to answer

St Etienne vs PSG — Mauricio Pochettino’s PSG debut against another former Southampton manager in Claude Puel

Athletic vs Barca — Marcelino’s debut at Athletic welcoming Barca who he has always done well against

United vs City — EFL cup semi with both in good form and Mourinho awaiting the winner

The scoreline may reflect a typical easy win for Bayern. While they were the deserved winners, the Pokal final had its moments which made it an enjoyable watch. Leverkusen gave it their all, and were it not for some calamitous errors, the final score might have been closer. ⚽️

A terrible five minutes to determine a cup final. Leverkusen have 3 attackers clear on Neuer, miss a golden opportunity to come back in the game. A few seconds later and Hradecky does a Karius. Game over! #FCBB04

On the 2020 Coppa Italia

Kudos to Gattuso and Napoli for winning the Coppa Italia. From the extended highlights that I just watched they clearly were deserved winners. From a neutral perspective one has to ask if there was any merit in the FIGC reducing the final stages of the Coppa to a glorified curtain raiser for the restart of Serie A. Domestic cups as it is struggle for relevance in comparison to leagues. It is usually the semifinal stage onwards that they creep back into the wider conscious. The pandemic enabled England to give the FA Cup a new sense of tournament excitement after the conclusion of the league. In Spain, they may even play the Copa final next year, because they believe the occasion of an all Basque final deserves the right circumstances. So why did it Italy feel the need to rush their cup? To this observer, it only served to increase the irrelevance of the competition and deprive us of the tension and sense of occasion a final of this magnitude deserves.

The King’s Cup runneth over

We are blessed with an abundance of writers on European football in today’s digital age. For most of the noughties however, this wasn’t the case. I used to look forward to a weekly column on soccernet (now ESPNFC) by Phil Ball about Spanish football. Though Phil writes less frequently nowadays, his prose still shines through and he remains one of my favourite writers. Have a read of his fantastic piece on the Copa del Rey.

The real magic of the cup

Writing after a truly remarkable set of Copa del Rey quarterfinals, Sid Lowe on ESPNFC:

"I am happy as a partridge. I dreamed of this ever since I was little," Williams said, tears fighting their way through, his voice breaking slightly. "This is the greatest night I have lived here. It is what we all dream of."

In the Athletic club shop, they sell t-shirts bearing a quote from Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier on the front. "To play for the best clubs is a nice challenge but there is a more difficult challenge: to play against them and beat them," it says. "I dedicate myself to this task." On Thursday night, Athletic Club and Real Sociedad did exactly that. And that's what a cup is, the very essence of sport, of competition.

That's what football is.

The Copa del Rey going one-legged all the way till the semifinals has really reinvigorated the competition this year. I won’t forget Real and Athletic’s wins on Thursday for a long time.

Kudos to the DFB for their Pokal outreach

I don’t tend to take domestic cups too seriously until the semifinals, unless there are some big draws earlier in the competition. In comparison to other cup competitions, the DFB Pokal has managed to retain a sense of occasion even in their earlier rounds. Partly this is because the competition is well-staggered, so there is anticipation when it actually comes around. On top of that, the games are always played midweek and decided in one leg. 

Then you have the matchups that in their own way, intertwine with the story of the league. For example, Leipzig are visiting Frankfurt in their round of 16 clash, just ten days after a damaging defeat in the league at the same venue. In addition to progression, it's also a chance for Leipzig to make a statement that they can handle tough occasions mentally. There’s also a repeat of last year’s game when Werder Bremen knocked out Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund should have won after leading three times, but contrived to lose on penalties. It was no surprise that BVB then drew their next three league games to throw away the initiative in the title race. Will they exorcise those demons this time around? Bayern are hosting Hoffenheim which serves as a good reference point for Hansi Flick, considering Niko Kovac lost the same fixture in the league rather embarrassingly. These are just some of the interesting storylines.

To top it all off, the DFB is live streaming these matches legally on YouTube the world over. I think this an example of great outreach by a federation and league that are fan friendly at their core. Instead of selling tv rights for a cup competition that might not have natural viewership around the world, they are going directly to the fans. Football fans get to watch some quality football played out in front of some great atmospheres free of charge and the DFB gets to promote their cup while generating more interest in German football. It truly is a win-win and I hope other federations follow in the DFB’s footsteps when it comes to broadening access.

Grealish magic and some from Nyland as well

I thoroughly enjoyed the Villa-Leicester EFL cup semi; both legs played in an open manner, without caginess or cynicism. Those who support the Foxes could justifiably argue they didn’t deserve to lose. However, Aston Villa had the joker in the pack in Jack Grealish. It was because of Grealish that Villa had a latent threat which meant Leicester were never totally in control despite being dominant. His run with the ball and assist for the first goal was sheer artistry. But it's also important to highlight another key contribution from the Villains. That of Orjan Nyland. The Norwegian goalkeeper was outstanding in both legs and if it weren’t for his saves, the match would have been a more one-sided affair. Pepe Reina has rightly been brought in to provide leadership and experience in Villa’s relegation battle, but I have always enjoyed it when cups have given backup keepers their moment in the sun. Nyland deserves the plaudits he will get in the aftermath of the semi and probably a starting berth in the final to go with it as well.

Rodgers on giant-killings

Ian Watson quoting Brendan Rodgers on F365:

Brendan Rodgers has never enjoyed a giant-killing. “I was always one that when I watched the games and a big team was playing a lower team, I always wanted the big team to win,” he said this week. “Why? Because if the lesser team could turn it on like the big players every week, they’d be at that level.

“So I asked: ‘Why don’t they do it every week?”

Rodgers can sometimes say things that appear a bit too clever which results in him conveniently becoming a bit of a caricature. Predominantly though, Rodgers talks a lot of sense. His views are unconventional amongst British managers and he has strong principles. Like everyone else, I can savour an upset every now and then, but fan culture and media too often overhype the significance of upsets; a classic case being the repercussions of United’s win at PSG in the Champions League last season. I find myself agreeing with Rodgers — it would be a better and more patient story if the lesser team could turn it on every week.

The League Cup Paradox

I support the growing calls for axing the League Cup. After all, why does England need two cup competitions? It seems unnecessary. And after a hectic period of fixtures, including the increasingly maligned third round of the FA Cup, a two-legged semi for what is ostensibly England’s fourth tournament in terms of importance, genuinely feels like overkill.

Yet, when said two-legged semifnal comes around, I can’t help but actually look forward to it. This may well be, because like cup competitions on the continent, it takes place in midweek. In fact, this is probably the reason I generally tend to like this competition more than the FA Cup. It doesn’t take place at the expense of league fixtures.

There’s also the fact that these semis have consistently delivered compelling contests. Last season we had Chelsea vs Spurs face off over two legs, the season before that Arsenal vs Chelsea and this season both matchups are derbies. One can’t deny the allure of big teams taking on each other in quick succession for an aggregate victory. The story seems that little bit longer, a few more twists and turns to relish. It’s almost like the perfect appetizer in January, before the main course of two-legged European football commences in February. I may well forget the significance as early as April, but I for one am hoping that we will get to see four entertaining matches featuring City, United, Leicester and Villa.