With the English Premier League schedule taking a weeklong break for domestic Cup games, Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A offer the most compelling televised soccer matchups from Europe this weekend. On Saturday there will be a lot on the line at both ends of the standings in the Catalan Derby (BeIN Sports, noon PT). But wait, it gets worse: Espanyol is 0-16-4 against Barcelona in their last 20 league matches dating to 2009, failing to score in 15 of them. Roma hasn’t won a Serie A title since 2001 but it returns from Italy’s holiday break fourth in the standings, seven points back of Inter Milan. And Sunday’s match offers a golden opportunity to close that gap since Roma has lost just two of its last 32 Serie A meetings with Torino.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 03, 2020 12:56 UTC