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FIVE games to follow this weekend: The Cup Final Special

FIVE games to follow this weekend: The Cup Final Special

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In this weekend preview we summarise the best five games to follow on your match feed. And make a couple of suggestions for matches that you may otherwise miss.

By Bill Biss

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 FA Cup Final: Manchester City vs. Manchester United

Saturday promises to be an epic day of Cup Finals around Europe, so we’ll start with the oldest cup of them all, where Manchester City and Manchester United compete in the final of the 143rd edition of the FA Cup, a tournament which is now in it’s 153rd year (note: the competition was not held through the majority of the war years).

This is a repeat of last year’s final and is therefore the second ever Manchester Derby final to be played in this competition at Wembley Stadium. City won that game, and they also completed a league double over United (by an aggregate score of 6-1) on the way to winning what was their fourth straight Premier League title last weekend.

United struggled to an eighth placed finish so need to win this game in order to qualify for European football next season, with the FA Cup win guaranteeing a place in the Europa League if your side has not already qualified via their league position. Whether this proves to be Erik ten Hag’s last game in charge of the team remains to be seen but that would be a respectable achievement to sign off on after a difficult season.

Thanks to last weekend’s 3-1 title-sealing victory over West Ham, a game that starred Phil Foden, a player that also scored in both league derby games this season, City are now unbeaten in 28 domestic matches, a run that dates back to late November. For their part, United have won just three of the eleven games that they’ve played since the epic 4-3 semi-final victory over Liverpool that saw them qualify for this final.

North of the border, we should also mention that the final of the Scottish Cup takes place, this being the second oldest Cup competition in world football. Glasgow rivals Celtic and Rangers meet in the final, a pairing that is far more common, but has not actually happened since 2002! In total, this will be the 15th time that the two clubs have met in the final.

🇫🇷 Coupe De France Final: Lyon vs. PSG

On to mainland Europe now, and the final of the Coupe de France, which takes place in Paris on Saturday evening. Here, second-half of the season surprise package Lyon take on perennial finalists PSG. The French league champions have reached seven of the last 10 finals, winning six of them, but actually haven’t featured in the tournament’s showpiece game since 2021, with Nantes and Toulouse the two most recent Cup winners.

With PSG only having been in existence since 1970, there has only been one previous final played between these two sides, and that came when Lyon were at their dominant best in the 00s, with Sidney Govou scoring the only goal of the 2008 final.

For the majority of the first half of this season, Lyon looked distinctly like relegation candidates, and it took their third managerial appointment of the campaign to steady the ship. But as we detailed in another article – today – Pierre Sage, who was promoted from within the club, has gone on to do far more than that. Lyon went from being in the bottom three in December to sealing a top six finish on the final day of the Ligue 1 season. Not to mention this Cup final appearance. In fact, no one, not even Luis Enrique’s title winning PSG side picked up more points in the second half of the year.

Having said that, PSG were one side who could halt Lyon’s Sage-inspired train, following up September’s 4-1 thrashing of OL with a matching 4-1 drubbing as recently as late April. And with club talisman Kylian Mbappé set to play his final game for his hometown club in this final, it would not be a surprise to see the Parisians once again raise their performance for the meeting with Lyon.

Mbappé was rested for PSG’s final two league games – once the title was already won – presumably with one eye on this fixture prior to his long anticipated summer move to Real Madrid. Should PSG lift the cup, it will be the French International’s 12th major honour with the club.

🇩🇪 DFB Pokal Final: Kaiserslautern vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Also taking place on Saturday is the 81st final of the DFB Pokal, German football’s main cup competition. Here, some of the fanfare surrounding the final, at least outside of the country, has now died down following Bayer Leverkusen’s defeat to Atalanta in Wednesday night’s Europa League final – a game we reviewed here.

The newly crowned Bundesliga Champions started the week unbeaten and looking to secure a historic treble but have now seen their 51-game streak ended in no uncertain terms. But there is, at least, the opportunity to win a domestic double, something the club have never previously achieved in their long history.

This will be Leverkusen’s fifth final appearance, with the side only having won the Pokal once, back in 1993 before finishing as runners-up in 2002, 2009, and 2020. They face unlikely opponents, with second tier Kaiserslautern the finalists from the other side of the draw.

That might be unfair, FCK do have some pedigree in this competition – winning it twice in the 1990s – but they have been outside of the top flight since 2012 and were playing third division football as recently as 2022. This year was another year of consolidation for the fallen giants, with a 13th placed finish now on the books. In their cup run, they’ve only faced one Bundesliga side so far, beating the now-relegated FC Köln back in Round 2.

A #Cupset therefore seems unlikely here, particular because Xabi Alonso will be demanding a response after Leverkusen’s disappointing showing in the Europa League.

🏆 Women’s Champions League Final: Barcelona vs. Lyon

Keeping the Cup final theme going, we’re next showcasing the final of the Women’s Champions League, which takes place in Bilbao on Saturday. Here, we have the gargantuan clash between perhaps the two best women’s club teams in the world as Barcelona take on French giants Lyon.

The record winners of this tournament have just romped home in their domestic league, winning a third straight title by a margin of 11 points and finishing with a morale boosting 2-1 win over main rivals PSG. Yes, Lyon are very much back on top. And they’ll be looking to do the same in Europe having last won the Champions League in 2022 (against Barcelona) but failing to make it past the quarter-finals last season.

In total, Lyon have seven European titles to their name, with five of them coming in consecutive years from 2016 onwards. A marker that Barcelona, and their current set-up would very much like to emulate.

Barça also dominate on the domestic front and have already sealed what is their fourth straight Liga F title in Spain. With two games to play, they remain unbeaten, and boast an 18 point lead on Real Madrid. And now they’re looking to go back-to-back in the Champions League having won last year’s final against Wolfsburg.

That was the club’s second European honour, having lost in the final against Lyon on two occasions – in 2019 and 2022. Could revenge be in the air?

📈 EFL Championship Play-off Final: Southampton vs. Leeds United

Now it’s time to break this week’s theme as on Sunday, we see one of the most important games of the season in English football, the EFL Championship play-off final that decides the final promotion place to the promised land of the Premier League.

Meeting in the final are Southampton and Leeds United, two of the three sides who were relegated at the end of the 2022/23 season. Leeds finished that season 19th in the league, six points better off than the bottom placed Saints. This season, they again placed next to each other, with Leeds coming third in the Championship, with three points the difference to fourth placed Southampton.

Familiarity breeds contempt, as they say, and there may be some of that on show here, as the two sides also met in the final round of the regular season, with the Saints running out 2-1 winners at Elland Round just a couple of weekends ago. That completed a league double for the South Coast club.

In the interim period, Southampton defeated West Bromwich Albion in the two-legged semi-finals, beaten them 3-1 at home following a 0-0 draw in the first leg. And Leeds similarly drew their opener against Norwich City before thrashing them 4-0 at home in the return game.

All that suggests that this match, sometimes known as the richest game in football, could well be too close to call.

Plus two further suggestions from a little deeper in your match feed…

🏆 CAF Champions League Final, second leg: Al Ahly vs. Espérance

Away from European football, you may be interested to know that two continental competitions come to a conclusion this weekend. On Saturday, we’ll see a straight shootout between Egypt’s Al Ahly and Tunisia’s Espérance in the second leg of the CAF Champions League Final.

The first leg of African football’s biggest club game ended in a goalless draw in Tunis, and we’re now back to Cairo for what many expect to be a home victory for the record winners of this tournament. It might not be a procession for Al Ahly, but the defending champions start as favourites to lift what would be their 12th title in this competition.

🏆 AFC Champions League Final, second leg: Al Ain vs. Yokohama F. Marinos

In the AFC region, Saturday also sees the second leg played in the Asian Champions League final. Here, J. League side Yokohama F. Marinos, managed by former Socceroo, and Premier League star Harry Kewell, are looking to defend a 2-1 lead when they go to Al Ain, in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Al Ain, the UAE’s most decorated club, were 1-0 up after just 12 minutes in that game but were undone late in the second half as the Japanese side’s dominance eventually shone through, with substitute Kota Watanabe scoring the winner in the 84th minute.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on our Social channels for updates on all the important football going on this weekend – search @FotMob on x, @fotmobapp everywhere else!

Images from IMAGO

FIVE games to follow this weekend: The Cup Final Special

In this weekend preview we summarise the best five games to follow on your match feed. And make a couple of suggestions for matches that you may otherwise miss.

By Bill Biss

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 FA Cup Final: Manchester City vs. Manchester United

Saturday promises to be an epic day of Cup Finals around Europe, so we’ll start with the oldest cup of them all, where Manchester City and Manchester United compete in the final of the 143rd edition of the FA Cup, a tournament which is now in it’s 153rd year (note: the competition was not held through the majority of the war years).

This is a repeat of last year’s final and is therefore the second ever Manchester Derby final to be played in this competition at Wembley Stadium. City won that game, and they also completed a league double over United (by an aggregate score of 6-1) on the way to winning what was their fourth straight Premier League title last weekend.

United struggled to an eighth placed finish so need to win this game in order to qualify for European football next season, with the FA Cup win guaranteeing a place in the Europa League if your side has not already qualified via their league position. Whether this proves to be Erik ten Hag’s last game in charge of the team remains to be seen but that would be a respectable achievement to sign off on after a difficult season.

Thanks to last weekend’s 3-1 title-sealing victory over West Ham, a game that starred Phil Foden, a player that also scored in both league derby games this season, City are now unbeaten in 28 domestic matches, a run that dates back to late November. For their part, United have won just three of the eleven games that they’ve played since the epic 4-3 semi-final victory over Liverpool that saw them qualify for this final.

North of the border, we should also mention that the final of the Scottish Cup takes place, this being the second oldest Cup competition in world football. Glasgow rivals Celtic and Rangers meet in the final, a pairing that is far more common, but has not actually happened since 2002! In total, this will be the 15th time that the two clubs have met in the final.

🇫🇷 Coupe De France Final: Lyon vs. PSG

On to mainland Europe now, and the final of the Coupe de France, which takes place in Paris on Saturday evening. Here, second-half of the season surprise package Lyon take on perennial finalists PSG. The French league champions have reached seven of the last 10 finals, winning six of them, but actually haven’t featured in the tournament’s showpiece game since 2021, with Nantes and Toulouse the two most recent Cup winners.

With PSG only having been in existence since 1970, there has only been one previous final played between these two sides, and that came when Lyon were at their dominant best in the 00s, with Sidney Govou scoring the only goal of the 2008 final.

For the majority of the first half of this season, Lyon looked distinctly like relegation candidates, and it took their third managerial appointment of the campaign to steady the ship. But as we detailed in another article – today – Pierre Sage, who was promoted from within the club, has gone on to do far more than that. Lyon went from being in the bottom three in December to sealing a top six finish on the final day of the Ligue 1 season. Not to mention this Cup final appearance. In fact, no one, not even Luis Enrique’s title winning PSG side picked up more points in the second half of the year.

Having said that, PSG were one side who could halt Lyon’s Sage-inspired train, following up September’s 4-1 thrashing of OL with a matching 4-1 drubbing as recently as late April. And with club talisman Kylian Mbappé set to play his final game for his hometown club in this final, it would not be a surprise to see the Parisians once again raise their performance for the meeting with Lyon.

Mbappé was rested for PSG’s final two league games – once the title was already won – presumably with one eye on this fixture prior to his long anticipated summer move to Real Madrid. Should PSG lift the cup, it will be the French International’s 12th major honour with the club.

🇩🇪 DFB Pokal Final: Kaiserslautern vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Also taking place on Saturday is the 81st final of the DFB Pokal, German football’s main cup competition. Here, some of the fanfare surrounding the final, at least outside of the country, has now died down following Bayer Leverkusen’s defeat to Atalanta in Wednesday night’s Europa League final – a game we reviewed here.

The newly crowned Bundesliga Champions started the week unbeaten and looking to secure a historic treble but have now seen their 51-game streak ended in no uncertain terms. But there is, at least, the opportunity to win a domestic double, something the club have never previously achieved in their long history.

This will be Leverkusen’s fifth final appearance, with the side only having won the Pokal once, back in 1993 before finishing as runners-up in 2002, 2009, and 2020. They face unlikely opponents, with second tier Kaiserslautern the finalists from the other side of the draw.

That might be unfair, FCK do have some pedigree in this competition – winning it twice in the 1990s – but they have been outside of the top flight since 2012 and were playing third division football as recently as 2022. This year was another year of consolidation for the fallen giants, with a 13th placed finish now on the books. In their cup run, they’ve only faced one Bundesliga side so far, beating the now-relegated FC Köln back in Round 2.

A #Cupset therefore seems unlikely here, particular because Xabi Alonso will be demanding a response after Leverkusen’s disappointing showing in the Europa League.

🏆 Women’s Champions League Final: Barcelona vs. Lyon

Keeping the Cup final theme going, we’re next showcasing the final of the Women’s Champions League, which takes place in Bilbao on Saturday. Here, we have the gargantuan clash between perhaps the two best women’s club teams in the world as Barcelona take on French giants Lyon.

The record winners of this tournament have just romped home in their domestic league, winning a third straight title by a margin of 11 points and finishing with a morale boosting 2-1 win over main rivals PSG. Yes, Lyon are very much back on top. And they’ll be looking to do the same in Europe having last won the Champions League in 2022 (against Barcelona) but failing to make it past the quarter-finals last season.

In total, Lyon have seven European titles to their name, with five of them coming in consecutive years from 2016 onwards. A marker that Barcelona, and their current set-up would very much like to emulate.

Barça also dominate on the domestic front and have already sealed what is their fourth straight Liga F title in Spain. With two games to play, they remain unbeaten, and boast an 18 point lead on Real Madrid. And now they’re looking to go back-to-back in the Champions League having won last year’s final against Wolfsburg.

That was the club’s second European honour, having lost in the final against Lyon on two occasions – in 2019 and 2022. Could revenge be in the air?

📈 EFL Championship Play-off Final: Southampton vs. Leeds United

Now it’s time to break this week’s theme as on Sunday, we see one of the most important games of the season in English football, the EFL Championship play-off final that decides the final promotion place to the promised land of the Premier League.

Meeting in the final are Southampton and Leeds United, two of the three sides who were relegated at the end of the 2022/23 season. Leeds finished that season 19th in the league, six points better off than the bottom placed Saints. This season, they again placed next to each other, with Leeds coming third in the Championship, with three points the difference to fourth placed Southampton.

Familiarity breeds contempt, as they say, and there may be some of that on show here, as the two sides also met in the final round of the regular season, with the Saints running out 2-1 winners at Elland Round just a couple of weekends ago. That completed a league double for the South Coast club.

In the interim period, Southampton defeated West Bromwich Albion in the two-legged semi-finals, beaten them 3-1 at home following a 0-0 draw in the first leg. And Leeds similarly drew their opener against Norwich City before thrashing them 4-0 at home in the return game.

All that suggests that this match, sometimes known as the richest game in football, could well be too close to call.

Plus two further suggestions from a little deeper in your match feed…

🏆 CAF Champions League Final, second leg: Al Ahly vs. Espérance

Away from European football, you may be interested to know that two continental competitions come to a conclusion this weekend. On Saturday, we’ll see a straight shootout between Egypt’s Al Ahly and Tunisia’s Espérance in the second leg of the CAF Champions League Final.

The first leg of African football’s biggest club game ended in a goalless draw in Tunis, and we’re now back to Cairo for what many expect to be a home victory for the record winners of this tournament. It might not be a procession for Al Ahly, but the defending champions start as favourites to lift what would be their 12th title in this competition.

🏆 AFC Champions League Final, second leg: Al Ain vs. Yokohama F. Marinos

In the AFC region, Saturday also sees the second leg played in the Asian Champions League final. Here, J. League side Yokohama F. Marinos, managed by former Socceroo, and Premier League star Harry Kewell, are looking to defend a 2-1 lead when they go to Al Ain, in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Al Ain, the UAE’s most decorated club, were 1-0 up after just 12 minutes in that game but were undone late in the second half as the Japanese side’s dominance eventually shone through, with substitute Kota Watanabe scoring the winner in the 84th minute.

If you want to follow any of the games mentioned above, click on the relevant link and tap the bell icon to receive all the key match updates.

Or join us on our Social channels for updates on all the important football going on this weekend – search @FotMob on x, @fotmobapp everywhere else!

Images from IMAGO