Accas, Boosts & Offers: Our Tips for Around Europe - 20/08/21

Bayer Leverkusen will host Borussia Monchengladbach at the BayArena on Saturday in the Bundesliga in what is the most important fixture of the season so far as the usual top four contestants battle it out.

Both teams are coming off draws in their opening games, with Monchengladbach being the happier of the two as they drew 1-1 at home with Bayern Munich thanks to an early goal by Alassane Plea before Robert Lewandowski equalized for the Bavarians. Leverkusen had to come from behind against Union Berlin to earn themselves a point, in what a pretty lacklustre game.

The previous meetings between the two teams saw Leverkusen win both games last season. The first was a goal feast as Leverkusen triumphed 4-3 against Gladbach with the game’s most memorable moment being the Valentino Lazaro scorpion kick in the dying moments of the game for Gladbach. The return game was a tamer affair as Leverkusen won 1-0 at Borussia Park thanks to a Patrick Schick goal.

In recent years the games between these two teams have always been close, so it will be close once again especially with the added pressure of fans in the BayArena, and we expect a draw.

Serie A returns this weekend and Juventus will be looking to win back their title from Inter Milan and start off with a flyer against Udinese.

This will be Max Allegri’s first game back in charge of Juventus - the same man who started the serial-winning decade for the club back in 2011/12 wit five titles and four consecutive league and cup doubles.

The previous encounters between the two teams saw Juventus win 4-1 at home thanks to two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and goals from Paulo Dybala and Federico Chiesa, while the return game was a tight affair with Udinese leading until the latter ends of the game where Ronaldo scored two late goals to rescue the points for Juventus.

Juventus have only slightly strengthened their squad with the acquisition of Manuel Locatelli from Sassuolo, but he is unlikely to play.

Now, the Old Lady are heavily expected to win the game under Allegri, he is able to get a much better performance from his players than his predecessors were able to, and with Ronaldo back in top form after winning the top scorer award for both the Serie A and Euro 2020, he may also score.

In the second game without Lionel Messi, Barcelona face another tough challenge against Athletic Bilbao away from home.

Barcelona have already shown they are able to cope without the Argentine as they beat Real Sociedad 4-2 thanks to two goals from Martin Braithwaite and goals from Sergi Roberto and Gerard Pique, while Memphis Depay also had a solid performance. Bilbao, on the other hand, will be needing the three points as they are coming off the back of a dire 0-0 draw with Elche.

Bilbao and Barca are very familiar with each other as last season they played a total of four times with Barcelona winning three of them. In the league Barca won 2-1 and 3-2 but the most notable games came in the Copa Del Rey and the Super Cup. In the Super Cup, Bilbao triumphed 3-2 after extra time after a late Inaki Williams goal secured them the trophy, in a game which also saw Lionel Messi red-carded.

Then in the rematch in the Copa Del Rey final, Barcelona ran out 4-0 winners where the standout performers for Barca were Messi and Frenkie De Jong.

The player to look out for will be Braithwaite who despite the backlash he receives had shown that he is capable to play at Barcelona after his performances at the weekend and he will want to continue this form so he can secure a starting place.

Sadly for fans across the world, the wait continues to see Lionel Messi in action for Paris Saint-Germain, as it is rumoured that the Argentine sensation is in need of just one more week of recovery time after a long season with Barcelona and a summer triumph in the Copa America with his nation.

Heading into this one, Brest are coming off a 1-1 draw with Rennes while PSG beat Strasbourg at the weekend thanks to goals from Mauro Icardi, Julian Draxler and Pablo Sarabia, as well as a Strasbourg own goal. Messi was also presented before this game, and it seems the French giants how finally got some momentum in the new season.

Messi's absence is also met with Sergio Ramos' too, but despite this, goals are still expected with Kylian Mbappe in the line and some form being shown from Icardi and Draxler.

Finally, Marseille make a trip along the south coast of France as they face Nice at the Allianz Riviera.

Christoph Galtier’s men continued where they set off last season and are coming off a resounding 4-0 win against champions Lille, thanks to goals from the likes of Kasper Dolberg, Amine Gouiri and Hichem Boudaoui. Now, it seems that the French manager is slowly building something at Nice and on the other hand, Marseille are coming off a 2-2 draw with Bordeaux.

They did take a resounding lead through Cengiz Under and Dimitri Payet into half time against Bordeaux, however, they were able to grab goals back to rescue a point through Timothee Pembele and Remi Oudin, which left Jorge Sampaoli frustrated.

The previous encounters last season between the teams saw the results split with Nice winning 3-0 at home while Marseille also won a much tighter affair 3-2 at home. But as Marseille have shown their ability to come from behind and win games as well as throw the games away this will be another tight affair between the two with Marseille edging it due to the quality that they possess.