By Enitan Abdultawab

League football officially resumes after the third round of the European competition’s fixtures for the 2023–2024 campaign.

Now, league clubs will continue their quest toward earning a top spot in their respective leagues. This weekend is an anticipated one as a handful of mouthwatering fixtures will be held, and these include two of football’s biggest derbies, one in Spain and the other in England.

Here are four fixtures to watch this weekend

Barcelona vs Real Madrid – Saturday, October 28

Barcelona and Real Madrid will face off on Saturday in what might go a long way toward deciding the La Liga leader, although the season isn’t taking shape yet. Barcelona will host Real Madrid at the Estadio Luis De Companys for the first time and will go into the match with just a single point off joint-leaders Real Madrid and Girona.

It remains to be seen how Xavi Hernandez’s men will find a way with a depleted squad ridden with injuries to first-team players. Real Madrid are enjoying a season as they have only lost once all this while and have always been comfortable doing so. They will be hoping to end Barcelona’s unbeaten run, which has been achieved through a lot of toil.

Manchester United vs Manchester City – Sunday, October 22

Manchester City will visit Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday in a bid to mount pressure on league-leader Tottenham Hotspur. Pep Guardiola’s men returned to winning ways last week at home versus Brighton and further extended it in their thumping of Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League.

Although Erik Ten Hag’s men sit 10th in the standings, they seem confident going into this clash after a string of heroics in their past matches, including a Harry Maguire goal and an Andre Onana late penalty save.

Manchester City will, no doubt, face an uphill task, especially if Tottenham Hotspur defeats Fulham on Friday evening.

Inter Milan vs Roma – Sunday, October 29

Inter Milan are one of the best teams, with a brilliant start this season. With a single home loss versus Sassulou in the league, Inter Milan are flying high this season with quick counter-attacking and defending football at the same time. They sit comfortably at the top of the table and have drawn just once in their last five matches.

Against Roma at home, the ’22 UCL finalist will require stronger tenacity than never before because this Roma side are even more rejuvenated with five wins from their last games. Roma are currently 7th in the standings and will be hoping to clinch a win so as to push higher in the standings.

Napoli vs Ac Milan – Sunday, October 29

Napoli’s season have been marred by a series of ups and downs, and they are nowhere near perfection at the moment. They have only won two of their last five matches and currently sit fourth with 17 points.

One of their pitfalls is the inability of their strikers to find the back of the net.

They now host an AC Milan team that has lost its last two games successively against Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain in the league and UCL, respectively. They will be hoping to return to winning ways despite losing out on a couple of first-team players to injuries.