The European Leagues are in full swing this weekend. La Liga and Serie A kick off. Let’s see what matches are worth waking up for. Plus a preview of Pulido and El Kaiser’s seasons abroad.
Saturday, 8/22/15
-12:45pm, PSV vs SC Heerenveen: This could very well be the debut of Guardado and Moreno in PSV’s starting lineup. PSV play an attacking, entertaining style of football. With Univision Deportes carrying this game, it might be time for you to watch some Eredivisie.
Sunday, 8/23/15
-10:00am, Watford vs Southampton: As exciting as watching Tecatito would be, that kickoff time is unforgiving. He will be starting but I am going to opt to sleep in a little and catch Layun. He has been a starter the first 2 games and signs point to him getting the nod again against Southampton.
Olympiacos
Alan Pulido is still in Greece but his current club is a big upgrade from last season. Olympiacos is set to play in the Champions League this season and consistently win the league title. Pulido could very well be the next Mexican to make an appearance in Europe’s best club competition. But will he play though? Yes, throughout pre-season he has been one of the first attacking players off the bench. With Champions League, cup competitions, and league games, Pulido will see the field. Olympiacos is originally the club that wanted to sign him last summer when they thought he was a free agent. It appears they waited until that was cleared up before signing the Mexican international. They hope it will be worth the wait.
Hellas Verona
El Kaiser de Michoacan is still going strong in Italy. He earned 26 league starts last season and went the full 90 in 24 of them. Verona will look for him to man the backline and improve on allowing the 4th most goals in Serie A. Rafa will be an automatic starter for the club, barring any injuries or red card suspensions. Unfortunately for Verona, Rafa’s penchant for yellow/red cards followed him to Italy. Verona are expected to finish midtable as the club tries to get their footing being a consistent Serie A team after years in the second division. Rafa’s Mexico career is also still going strong, he has been called up for the September friendlies. No one sees him making it to Russia but it’s not like Mexico is swimming in quality CBs at the moment.