After what feels like an eternity and a day, club futbol is back. No marquee matchups in the EPL though Villa v Spurs should be decidedly more competitive than last season’s drubbing. Especially with Benteke due to be back. United face a tricky Southampton that has only allowed two goal so far, and West Ham will try to add to the worries at City. Arsenal will be without Ozil but get Cazorla back; Norwich at home doesn’t sound like a huge threat but they do have Dortmund looming in the (near) distance.

Spain: with Balegate rumbling on, all of Madrid will be joyfully looking to Benzema’s renewed goalscoring to carry the day. Or perhaps they will boo with abandon and keep focusing on completely not-trivial matters like who is still loyal to the previous coach. It’s Madrid, anything could happen. With the Classico coming up in a week, no doubt all controversies will be magnified, especially if Barca (and Atletico) keep up their winning ways.
Italy: there’s a promising Fiorentina-Juve on Sunday, but the big game is without a doubt Roma-Napoli later today. Roma showed against Inter their record is not just due to favorable scheduling, let’s see what they can accomplish here.
Germany: there were interesting rumors of Mueller going to Barcelona, but they got shot down with the quickness by everyone on the Bayern side. Bayern will not allow this foolish rumor-mongering to continue unabated. We are only allowed to discuss fussball matches, jah?
France: the clubs are threatening to strike over the proposed 75% marginal tax rate, and possibly refuse to play all matches for gameday 11. Insert French-people-strike-all-the-time joke here.

EPL
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2013
7:45 ET Newcastle United v Liverpool
10:00 ET Arsenal v Norwich City
10:00 ET Chelsea v Cardiff City
10:00 ET Everton v Hull City
10:00 ET Manchester United v Southampton
10:00 ET Stoke City v West Bromwich Albion
10:00 ET Swansea City v Sunderland
12:30 ET West Ham United v Manchester City
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2013
11:00 ET Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur
MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013
3:00 ET Crystal Palace v Fulham

LA LIGA
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2013
10:00 ET Real Madrid v Malaga
12:00 ET Valencia v Real Sociedad
2:00 ET Osasuna v Barcelona
4:00 ET Espanyol v Atletico Madrid
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2013
6:00 ET Granada v Getafe
11:00 ET Almeria v Rayo Vallecano
1:00 ET Real Betis v Elche
3:00 ET Real Valladolid v Sevilla FC
MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013
2:00 ET Celta Vigo v Levante
4:00 ET Athletic Bilbao v Villarreal

SERIE A
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2013
2:45 ET AS Roma v Napoli
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2013
12:00 ET Cagliari v Catania
2:45 ET AC Milan v Udinese
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2013
6:30 ET Atalanta v Lazio
9:00 ET Fiorentina v Juventus
9:00 ET Genoa v Chievo Verona
9:00 ET Hellas Verona v Parma
9:00 ET Livorno v Sampdoria
9:00 ET Sassuolo v Bologna
2:45 ET Torino v Internazionale

BUNDESLIGA
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2013
2:30 ET TSG Hoffenheim v Bayer Leverkusen
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2013
9:30 ET Bayern Munich v Mainz
9:30 ET Borussia Dortmund v Hannover 96
9:30 ET Eintracht Frankfurt v Nurnberg
9:30 ET TSV Eintracht Braunschweig v Schalke 04
9:30 ET Werder Bremen v SC Freiburg
12:30 ET Hertha Berlin v Borussia Monchengladbach
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2013
9:30 ET Hamburg SV v VfB Stuttgart
11:30 ET FC Augsburg v VfL Wolfsburg

LIGUE 1
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2013
2:30 ET Nice v Marseille
2:30 ET Stade de Reims v Toulouse
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2013
11:00 ET Paris Saint-Germain v Bastia
2:00 ET AC Ajaccio v Nantes
2:00 ET Evian Thonon Gaillard v Guingamp
2:00 ET Montpellier v Lille
2:00 ET Stade Rennes v Valenciennes
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2013
8:00 ET Sochaux v AS Monaco
11:00 ET St Etienne v Lorient
3:00 ET Lyon v Bordeaux

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For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets