It was crushing defeat in the Coppa Italia for Internazionale this week, and to next-door neighbors A.C. Milan no less. With that semifinal exit, the treble of which Inter have been loudly in pursuit evaporated. Now there are merely two competitions they’re in a good position to win: the Champions League, if they can get past Barcelona in the semifinals, and the Serie A.

That’s where they’ll meet Roma this weekend for another highly difficult encounter, even at the San Siro. The capital side have not lost a league match since December, an incredible turnaround from a disastrous opening period of the season, and they’ve zipped up the table to compete for a Champions League place. At the heart of it all is Claudio Ranieri, the 73-year-old Roman who came out of retirement to manage his hometown club for one final chapter — maybe — of a lifelong football romance.

Here to get into all that ahead of kickoff is Alasdair Mackenzie, writer for TNT Sports, Destination Calcio, Total Italian Football and more.

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And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.

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It’s the German clásico, Der Klassiker, though Borussia Dortmund are not having a classic season. After a recent uptick in form, they’re still eighth and just trying to get a ticket — any ticket — to Europe next season. Come to think of it, a 4-0 thrashing from Barcelona in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg this week might have put them off the whole business!

And then there’s Bayern Munich, back to being Bayern domestically. They’re six points clear of current adversaries Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga, and they seem to be on pace to secure Harry Kane his first career trophy. But there are still questions swirling around manager Vincent Kompany, and a recent spate of injuries — especially to thrilling young star Jamal Musiala — might have just created an opening for Dortmund here.

Joining the show to chat about all that and more is Markus Fjørtoft, a former professional footballer who now hosts The Fussball Podcast with his dad, Jan Åge Fjørtoft, who himself was a pro in the Bundesliga. Get the lowdown before it all kicks off at 12:30pm ET/5:30pm UK on Saturday.

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And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.

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It’s the Manchester derby, UNITED against CITY, but it’s certainly a strange one. Both of these clubs are in a bad way, though that means something different to each of them. City have fallen from champion grace but are still battling for a Champions League place. United, on the other hand, are 13th in the league with eight matches left to play.

It’s an incredible state of affairs for one of Europe’s true superclubs, and on this week’s show, the brilliant Carl Anka of The Athletic suggests that United are becoming something like the Dallas Cowboys: a giant global sporting institution that’s lost its magic. We got into how the Red Devils spent their way into this mess, how City have become a team with a soft underbelly, and why this Sunday’s encounter may be a meeting of the legless midfields.

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And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.

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The international break is over, and club football returns with the Gran Derbi: REAL BETIS vs SEVILLA.

This is one of the most vibrant rivalry matches in world football, Spain's greatest local spat, a true expression of Seville's colorful culture: the freewheeling social scene fueled by ubiquitous outdoor dining and Sevillanos who are impressively direct with one another; the searing heat of Andalusia; the close quarters in which the two sets of fans live, including in split households; and a rich history featuring the Romans, the Moors, Christian kings of all stripes, and the dictatorship of Francisco Franco after the Spanish Civil War.

This derby has boiled over at times, but more than anything it's defined by the (mostly) good-natured banter of the street, known as guasa, and a stubborn refusal from both sides to drift towards the corporatism that has come to define the modern game. They're desperate to beat each other and, perhaps as importantly, see each other suffer. In recent years, Sevilla have become the Europa League masters, seven times champions since 2006, in what is a considerable shakeup of the dynamic here. For a while, neither of them won much of anything, and the whole ethos of Real Betis is built around manque pierda — something like, "even when they lose." Betis are the better off this season, though, gunning for European football next season year behind the talismanic talents of Isco, who not so long ago had a short and disastrous spell at Sevilla. He could be the difference-maker this Sunday, though this week's guest predicts Betis could still fall prey to their own inferiority complex in this fixture.

That guest is Colin Millar, news writer for The Athletic and author of The Frying Pan of Spain, a book on the history of this rivalry. He lived in Seville himself and has all kinds of insight into what this one means.

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And as always, for kickoff times and storylines on all the other matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.

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There's a Super Sunday on the horizon, with tasty matches back-to-back all day long. Arsenal-Chelsea, title clashes in Italy and Spain. As always, you can get the lowdown on all the matches worth your time this coming weekend at TheFootballWeekend.com.

But there’s one headliner here, because there's a trophy up for grabs: It's LIVERPOOL vs NEWCASTLE at Wembley Stadium, vying for the League Cup.

It could be a nice tonic for the Reds after their untimely exit from the Champions League in midweek, while a trophy — any trophy — would be extremely timely for the Magpies. Newcastle United have not won a piece of major silverware since 1969. Their victory in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup came a month before the moon landing.

Here to preview this one is Laurence McKenna, Liverpool fan and sharp football observer across all kinds of platforms, not least his channel on YouTube. You can find him on the socials @Lozcast.

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MANCHESTER UNITED vs ARSENAL is the essential Premier League rivalry for fans of a certain age. These two clubs battled for titles season after season in the early 2000s in what some might call the league’s greatest era. Then Arsène Wenger lost his magic touch, Sir Alex Ferguson won the war, and Arsenal fans had to listen to Patrice Evra come out after every encounter between the two and declare that it was "men against boys.” From there, it was a steady decline away from championship contention for the club from North London.

When Ferguson left, United had their own downfall, and now they've sunk farther than the eighth-place finish Arsenal endured towards the beginning of manager Mikel Arteta's reign. The Red Devils are in terrible shape after a decade of self-sabotage, cycling through managers and executives and even — with the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe — ownership structures. None of it’s helped, and now this week’s guest — Manchester United fan and host of Touchline Fracas, Morayo Bamidele — fears his team could be embarrassed at Old Trafford.

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For kickoff times and storylines on all the matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.

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After a frankly disastrous title defense last term, NAPOLI steamed back into contention over the first half of this season under their brilliant and tempestuous new boss, Antonio Conte. But after a bizarre January transfer window where they sold key attacker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to PSG and brought in nobody to replace him, they’ve lost their way and dropped nine of the last 12 points available.

Reigning champions INTER, meanwhile, are in unabashed pursuit of a treble, and boss Simone Inzaghi has been rotating his teams like mad to deal with the matchload associated with all of their obligations. Still, they’ve been grinding out those three points, like the 1-0 over Genoa last time out in the league — and they've zipped into first place just in time for this encounter, one point clear of the Neapolitans.

Joining us to preview the match on Saturday (12pm ET, 5pm UK) is Nima Tavallaey (@NimaTavRood) co-host of the Italian Football Podcast (@ItaFootPod). He broke down how Napoli’s mismanagement goes farther back than the January transfer window and goes all the way to the top; why it's a three- or even four-horse title race in Serie A; and whether, if this goes the wrong way, Conte might erupt like the nearby Mount Vesuvius.

For kickoff times and storylines on all the good matches this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com.

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This was once the match in the Premier League, the perennial title bout, but MANCHESTER CITY have veered perilously off-course this season. LIVERPOOL have cruised to the top of the table, but they’ve started coughing up points in recent weeks and Arsenal have become more than just a speck in the rearview mirror. By kickoff here, it could be a five-point advantage at the top. If City find a way to dash Liverpool’s dreams yet again, there could be a title race after all.

Joining us to preview the big match on Sunday (11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK) is Andy Jones, a staff writer for The Athletic covering Liverpool.

For kickoff times and storylines on all the matches worth your time this weekend, check TheFootballWeekend.com

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