Soccer Moods

Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane

Sadio Mane

 Vinicius Gomes

Michal Zewlakow

Association Football, Soccer, Calcio, Nagomet, balonpie, whatever you call it...  

Boxing Day Premiers

While the Bundesliga is on Winter break, the English take the opposite approach.  Each club in Premier League soccer will play four times across 15 days as the Premier League program ramps up over Christmas. Nearly every English Premier League team is in action on Boxing Day as well as two Scottish teams and two Italian teams, playing in the Coppa Italia.

There aren't any outstanding matches on tap in this season's Boxing Day slate.  Several games, though, will affect the race for the top four. At present, Manchester City is on top, followed by Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, and Arsenal. 

Spurs, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool are all at home on Tuesday, and anything but three points would be a disappointment for those top four contenders. Manchester United is in second with 42 points, but Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal are all within eight points. 

The title race is far less dramatic. Matching the outstanding performance of Barcelona in Spain, Manchester City is a staggering 13 points clear of Manchester United in the Premier League as of Christmas Day, a remarkable lead considering just 19 matches have been played. Whatever the outcome of Tuesday's games, some teams will gain points on Man City, at least temporarily, as they do not play again until Wednesday. 

In Italy, where Boxing Day is not observed,  Lazio will play host to Fiorentina on Tuesday evening at the Olympic Stadium.  The teams are fairly evenly matched in their last five games, so this competition should be fierce.