Barcelona and Real Madrid meet in 2025's first El Clasico with a Spanish Super Cup trophy on the line

Happy Friday, everybody! The weekend is here and we are approaching the midway point of the January transfer window and the third round of the FA Cup in England. We already have our first instalment of El Clasico lined up in the Supercopa de Espana while the Bundesliga in Germany is also returning after its winter hibernation. Jonathan Johnson here with your final soccer fix of this week.

📺 Footy Fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Friday, January 10
🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayer Leverkusen, 2:30 p.m. ➡️ ESPN Deportes
🇮🇹 Serie A: Lazio vs. Como, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 FA Cup: Aston Villa vs. West Ham United, 3 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+

Saturday, January 11
🇮🇹 Serie A Femminile: Juventus vs. Sampdoria, 6:30 a.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 FA Cup: Liverpool vs. Accrington Stanley, 7:15 a.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 FA Cup: Chelsea vs. Morecambe, 10 a.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🇮🇹 Serie A: Torino vs. Juventus, 12 p.m. (noon) ➡️ Paramount+
🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Borussia Monchengladbach vs. Bayern Munich, 12:30 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+

Sunday, January 12
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 FA Cup: Tamworth vs. Tottenham Hotspur, 7:30 a.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🇮🇹 Serie A: Venezia vs. Inter, 9 a.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 FA Cup: Arsenal vs. Manchester United, 10 a.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🇪🇸 Supercopa de Espana: Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, 2 p.m. ➡️ ESPN Deportes

⚽ The Forward Line 🇪🇸 Early 2025 Clasico

The new year has been generous and given us an extra instalment of El Clasico earlier than expected, thanks to the Supercopa de Espana in Saudi Arabia. Real Madrid and Barcelona will renew their bitter rivalry with silverware at stake at King Abdullah Sports City on Sunday after the Catalan giants saw off Athletic Club and Los Blancos eased past RCD Mallorca to reach the showdown final in Jeddah. Barca won 2-0 against the Basque outfit on Wednesday, with Gavi influencing the game by scoring the opener and teeing up the second for Lamine Yamal. 

With Dani Olmo and Pau Victor temporarily granted permission to play for the Blaugrana again, Hansi Flick's side will be back to close to full strength, but up against a determined Blancos side. Real booked their berth 24 hours afterwards with a 3-0 success against the Islanders but all of the goals came in the second half with Jude Bellingham scoring the opener after the hour before a late Martin Valjent goal was added to by Rodrygo. As Chuck Booth pointed out, there is no such thing as a friendly when Carlo Ancelotti's men meet their fiercest rivals.

• Booth on El Clasico: "For something that can be taken as a midseason showcase, the stakes are always big when these two meet. It's even more important for Real Madrid as a goal from Kylian Mbappe along with a victory would help with establishing that the Frenchman's era as the number nine in Madrid is well and truly underway after a below-average beginning to life in Spain. Clasico's are where legends are made, and that's especially true when there's silverware on the line. Barcelona won their last meeting back in October 4-0 with a brace from Robert Lewandowski but these are teams in much different form now than when they last met. Barcelona's defense has been suspect and Madrid's attack is finding their feet which could make this very different."

Having only seen two managerial changes made all season up until mid-December, the past four weeks have produced four separations in the English Premier League which means that the coaching carousel is now in full swing. Wolverhampton Wanderers started the trend by replacing Gary O'Neil with Vitor Pereira before Southampton followed suit with Russell Martin making way for Ivan Juric. Graham Potter's return to the EPL was next as he came in for Julen Lopetegui at West Ham United but the most eye-catching was Everton's parting of ways with Sean Dyche the day of their FA Cup third round clash with Peterborough United on Thursday.

The Toffees are perhaps different to their rivals Wolves, Saints and Hammersbecause they have recently been taken over by the Friedkin Group who no doubt wanted to stamp their mark on Merseyside as quickly as possible since getting through the door at Goodison Park. Dyche had been in charge since early 2023 and successfully maintained their topflight status but a tricky run of form opened up the possibility of an early managerial change and it could see David Moyes make a remarkable return to Everton having already managed the club for 11 years until he joined Manchester United in 2013.

"Everton Football Club can confirm that Sean Dyche has been relieved of his duties as senior men's first team manager with immediate effect," read Thursday's surprisingly timed statement ahead of the 2-0 win over the Posh. "Ian Woan, Steve Stone, Mark Howard, and Billy Mercer have also left the club. The process to appoint a new manager is underway and an update will be provided in due course. Under-18s head coach Leighton Baines and club captain Seamus Coleman will take charge of first-team affairs on an interim basis."

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