European Football Preview: Two big ones from Spain and Italy

Christmas football is beginning to heat up with fixtures pounding on our doors every day of the week from across Europe. We look here at the standout fixtures from another entertaining weekend of European action.

Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid

Two of La Liga’s biggest sides, Sevilla and Atletico Madrid, go head-to-head on Sunday evening in a crucial game at the top of the table.

Sevilla have not had the greatest luck of late against Atletico with Sevilla having won only one of their last nine La Liga meetings against Madrid although their latest win came back in April. Sevilla have not gone back-to-back against Atletico since 2010 and they are 13/8 favourites heading into this fixture also. Ivan Rakitic has the chance to become the second top scoring Croatian in La Liga history if he finds the back of the net on Saturday evening going behind only Davor Suker.

Atletico Madrid have lost their last two La Liga games which is as many defeats as they had in their previous 23 matches in the competition. Atletico have never lost three La Liga games in a row under Diego Simeone and they are 15/8 to continue the record with a win on Saturday. Luis Suárez has not been involved in a goal in his last three league games against Sevilla but with seven goals to his name already this season, he will be looking to build on that tally.

AC Milan vs Napoli

Only a few weeks ago, both Milan and Napoli were unbeaten and sitting at the top of Serie A but in recent weeks, times have changed. Milan now sit in second behind Inter whilst Napoli have slipped below Sampdoria and into fourth spot but what will happen on Sunday evening?

Milan have only won one of their last 13 Serie A games against Napoli which came in 2020 but they head into this fixture as clear 5/4 favourites. Although they are favourites, Milan have not won a home fixture against Napoli in the league since 2014 when they were under Fillipo Inzaghi. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored four goals in his last five Serie A games against Napoli so the Rossoneri will be looking to the footballing legend as their main man.

Napoli have lost their last two league games and they have not lost three in a row since January 2020. Although the Azzurri go into this game as 21/10 underdogs, they will be looking to collect all three points and leapfrog Milan in the table. Lorenzo Insigne has scored six goals against Milan in Serie A making him the third highest scoring Napoli player in history against Milan. Could the crafty attacker be the man to get Napoli back on track?

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