Here is what our editors will be watching this weekend:
Saturday, May 10th
The first grand tour of the year is upon us, and the fight for pink begins this year, in Albania. Three stages greet the riders away from Italy with a Saturday time-trial set to shake up the general classification before the race heads to the heartland.
The main favourites for the race, Primoz Roglic and Juan Ayuso, shouldn't lose too much time with Wout van Aert and Joshua Tarling the main contenders for the stage, as well as pulling on the Maglia Rosa.
It will be interesting to see how the Albanian fans greet the race. It is not a cycling mecca by any stretch, but the views from the helicopter should prove to be enough to show why the race has come here for the first time.
The big stages come at the end of week three, but a good start for any GC contender in Albania will be a must to make sure they are in confident mood for the rest of the race.
Josh Donaldson
The battle for Champions League football in Italy couldn’t be tighter, with just one point between fourth and seventh, and two of those sides are facing off in Rome on Saturday.
Three wins and hard-fought draws against Roma and Bologna since Igor Tudor replaced Thiago Motta have kept Juventus in with a chance of qualifying for Europe’s premier competition for a third season in a row.
However, he hasn’t improved the side as much as the higher-ups at the club would’ve hoped, and it feels like he needs to take his last chance to get a win against a top team if he wants to stay at the helm beyond the end of the season.
As for Lazio, they’re enjoying a six-match unbeaten run in the league as they give everything to make amends for their hugely disappointing quarter-final exit to Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League. As a result of that, only a top-four finish will give them Champions League football now, and Marco Baroni’s future as manager will be very much uncertain if they fail in that mission.
Another interesting subplot to the match is that Tudor coached Lazio last year and left after three months due to a difference of opinions with the club president and a number of the players, some of whom he’ll be reuniting with on Saturday.
It could decide who plays Champions League football next season, it could decide the managers’ futures, and it could get feisty.
Finley Crebolder
Benfica vs Sporting Lisbon - 19:00 CET
The Liga Portugal title race is one of the best in Europe. Here’s the state of play: Sporting and Benfica are level on 78 points with just two rounds to play. What’s more, Sporting lead on goal difference by just three. It could hardly be tighter at the top!
The two bitter rivals from Lisbon will meet this Saturday in the penultimate round of the league season, and it really does feel like a winner-takes-all affair. A draw suits Sporting as the head-to-head record is the tiebreaker in case they finish on level points, and the Lions won their first league meeting of the season (1-0 at the Estadio Jose Alvalade).
Aside from that clash in December, the two sides have also met in the League Cup final, with Benfica winning on penalties at a neutral venue. That was back in January, and both sides have hardly dropped points in the league since.
Benfica last lost in the league in late January against Casa Pia, while Sporting’s most recent domestic defeat (aside from the League Cup final) was way back before Christmas. These are two red-hot teams, who will also contest the Taça de Portugal final.
Vangelis Pavlidis has led the line well for Benfica this season, but the star of the show in Portugal has, in many ways, been Sporting’s super Swede Viktor Gyokeres, who already has a whopping 38 league goals to his name. Can he reach that magical 40 mark?
If you’re looking for one match to watch on Saturday, it doesn’t get much better than this one: a fiery derby between two massive clubs vying for the title. Enough said.
Pat Dempsey
Jannik Sinner vs Mariano Navone - 19:00 CET
After a three-month doping ban, world number one Jannik Sinner makes his return to tennis this weekend, and he will be given a hero's welcome as he sets foot on home soil in Rome.
The Italian has only played in one tournament this season, claiming the Australian Open title all the way back in January. He was soon banned from the sport for a short period when the World Anti-Doping Agency accepted that anabolic agent clostebol had entered his system via massages from his physiotherapist.
During his time out, his closest rivals, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, have failed to really close the gap at the top of the world rankings, and Sinner now gets his preparations underway for the second Grand Slam of the year at the French Open, which begins in a few weeks.
“I have to say I have low expectations for this tournament. I’ve been sitting out for so long and I don’t have any feedback on how I’m going to play,” said Sinner.
“The goal will be Paris. I’m not here to beat anyone but to try to get through the first round and then we’ll see what can happen. It’s difficult for me to start a new tournament and get back to the rhythm."
Whether the break will see him fully rested and rejuvenated, or instead very rusty, will be revealed on Saturday, as he takes on Argentine Mariano Navone.
The world number 99 is a clay-court specialist and beat another Italian, Federico Cina, in the first round. However, it is very unlikely that he will cause Sinner many problems.
Regardless, the real story here is the return of Jannik Sinner, and absolutely everyone will be seated to see him make his comeback.
Sunday, May 11th
Barcelona vs Real Madrid - 16:15 CET
With only four points separating leaders Barcelona and second-placed Real Madrid in LaLiga heading into the final few weeks of the season, Sunday’s El Clasico promises to be a blockbuster tussle.
Hansi Flick’s side will be hoping for a similar performance to the one they produced in the reverse fixture back in October as they look to bounce back from Tuesday’s gut-wrenching Champions League semi-final defeat to Inter Milan.
Barcelona have well and truly had their rivals' number this season, not only thrashing them in the league, but also denying them in both the Copa del Rey and Super Cup finals.
As for Real, Carlo Ancelotti’s men are targeting a fourth Clasico victory in five LaLiga matches on Barcelona soil - a result that would blow the title race wide open with just three games remaining.
Despite their poor form in other competitions, Los Blancos have earned four consecutive wins in the league, and with Kylian Mbappe finding the net eight times in seven career meetings against the Blaugrana, they’ll fancy their chances of a fifth straight victory.
As is always the case in El Clasicos, goals and drama are pretty much guaranteed in equal measure. Therefore, make sure you clear your diaries on Sunday afternoon and tune in!
Danny Clark
