Soccer on TV this weekend: Lionel Messi tries to keep Barcelona’s title hopes alive
Manchester United has had great success on the road this season, which is where it finds itself this weekend when it travels to London to meet a rejuvenated Chelsea. In Spain, a red-hot Lionel Messi will try to keep Barcelona’s title hopes alive in a rematch with Sevilla, while Lille continues pursuit of an elusive title in France, highlighting the televised soccer action from Europe.
EPL: It’s unlikely anyone will catch Manchester City in the Premier League race, but the team with the best shot may be Manchester United (14-4-7), second on goal differential but still 10 points off the lead with 13 to play. It will try to close that gap — or at least avoid losing more ground — when it meets Chelsea (12-6-7) at Stamford Bridge on Sunday (NBCSN, Telemundo, 8:30 a.m. PT). Manchester United hasn’t lost an away game all season, while Chelsea hasn’t lost anywhere since Thomas Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard as manager a month ago.
The USWNT came out in full force early to rout Argentina 6-0 in the SheBelieves Cup final on Wednesday in Orlando, Fla.
La Liga: Barcelona (15-4-5) hasn’t lost in league play since early December, a span of 14 games in which it has gone 11-0-3. But it lost to Sevilla (15-5-3) in the Copa del Rey semifinals earlier this month, making Saturday’s rematch a little more important (BeIN Sports, 7 a.m. PT). Despite its recent hot streak, Barcelona has spent just two weeks higher than second in the league standings this season and a loss Saturday could drop it back to fourth. Messi has scored in five straight league games, bagging seven goals total, to take over La Liga lead with 18 on the season.
Ligue 1: Lille has won just one French first-division title in the last 67 years, but it’s closing in on another. At 17-2-7 it leads second-place Lyon by three points heading into a clash with visiting Strasbourg (8-13-5) on Sunday (BeIN Sports, 8 a.m. PT)
