ATALANTA - INTER MIAMI

This is the standout match of the weekend as Atlanta Utd host Inter Miami in one of the most atmospheric stadiums in the country, with Miami coach Gerardo Martino returning to the club he won the MLS Cup with in 2018.

Both teams already played in July in the Leagues Cup, where Inter Miami won 4:0. This was preceded by another victory 2:1 in Miami (before Messi, Busquets and Jordi Alba’s arrival), with two goals in the second half from Josef Martinez. In that 4:0 victory, the gulf in class between Miami’s attack and Atlanta’s defense was heavily exposed.

Atlanta’s three-man back line proved little resistance, and perhaps that’s why they’ve reverted back to a 4-2-3-1 formation since the end of their Leagues Cup run. It’s enabled them to play much better of late, getting a win at Seattle and a 4-0 win over Nashville at home. However, their defense has once again begun leaking goals. They drew 2-2 at Dallas last weekend, just a few days after Cincinnati came into Mercedes-Benz stadium and left 2-1 winners.

Atlanta has a good squad and it’s pretty strong at home (27/42 points, with a balance of 8/3/3). They have been inconsistent recently, but they are the second-highest scorers in the league so going forward I see them troubling the Miami defence. However, they have been overperforming scoring 32 goals although they produced just 23.2 xG.

Giorgos Giakoumakis is their top scorer with 13 goals, so he’ll be the dangerman. Argentina international Thiago Almada is another key player, who leads the MLS assists charts and is among the best in the league at creating chances for his teammates.

On the other hand, Lionel Messi and the rest of the stars who were out last weekend due to international duties are back and although they could be tired, they’ll have a big role to play. Especially Messi (as starter or from the bench), as always since his arrival to Inter Miami.

He missed Argentina's last game against Bolivia with an injury concern, and coach Martino said on Friday that they were going to “wait until the end of training to make a decision”, he’s expected to be available even if it’s off the bench. Martino said Messi “is fine” and he knows how important this match is to their hopes of making the playoffs.

Even so, Miami showed they can win without him, as they did last week in the win over Sporting KC, and Busquets and Alba provide plenty of threat whether or not he’s available from the start.

In his absence, Miami defeated Sporting Kansas City 3-2 last week with Leonardo Campana coming in for Messi and scoring twice. He has three goals in his past two games, so whether he starts or comes on later in the game, I expect him to be a threat.

With two goals in two games, another Argentine signing, Facundo Farias, has also impressed, joining in July. He can play up front or in an attacking midfield role and, at 21, I see him as someone who can make a big impact in MLS.

With Atalanta's poor defensive performances this season, I can’t see them being able to hold Inter Miami’s attack, who is one of the best in the MLS at the moment. Furthermore, the team is full of confidence, unbeaten since Messi’s arrival and in really good form.

Both sides have a lot of firepower, meaning there could be plenty of goals here. In the end, I believe that Miami will get points here to continue their march towards the playoffs, as they have much more quality upfront.

VILLARREAL - ALMERÍA

Villarreal was a mess with previous coach Quique Setien. A terrible defense, several players with bad attitude and far from their best form, and the team wasn’t competitive. They had a style which was non negotiable, a very risky style and not valid for a team like them with such a large number of chances in the defensive line.

After a terrible preseason (only 1 victory in 7 games with huge defeats such as St Gallen 6:1, Newcastle 4:0) and three defeats in the first 4 rounds of La Liga, Setien was sacked.

So Villarreal now starts another period which is expected to be much more positive. They hired a new coach - Pacheta - who has a lot of experience in Spanish football with Valladolid, and surely will make this team play much better.

According to several local newspapers and journalists, several players were against previous coach Quique Setien, and that was one of the reasons for his departure. Now they must move forward and show that they can do things much better. And the truth is that they can. They have a squad to compete for TOP6 (Europa League) at least.

They lost some key players in the transfer market, but seeing the lineup, is still one of the best in La Liga, and they know each other very well as they have been playing together for a long time.

On the other hand, Almeria has one of the worst squads in the league. Last season they made the miracle of avoiding relegation with a terrible squad thanks to their good home performances and a good coach who was offensive. But now they have a new one who still doesn't know how to play with this team.

They have started the season with 3 defeats and one draw. Three of them against relegation teams who are at the same level as them (Rayo Vallecano, Cadiz, Celta). And another worrying fact: they weren’t able to keep the goal to nil yet.

Almería has a terrible defense. They make mistakes in the tactics but also individually, so are conceding a lot of chances per match. Furthermore, upfront they don't have the same quality as last season to score 2-3 goals per match.

Last season Almeria was the worst away team in the league, with only 1 victory in the whole season (19 rounds), 13 defeats and 43 goals conceded.

I’m expecting a strong performance by Villarreal here, who must wake up with the new coach. They have a lot of quality and surely will make better performances and achieve better results with this new coach. Guests are simply one of the worst teams in the league and don’t see them with much more margin to improve.

Due to their recent performances, surely both teams will try to make a slow-paced game, trying to keep the goal to nil. In these situations, the winner will be the most effective team. And here is Villarreal who has more quality and won’t need too many chances to score, especially thanks to players like Gerard Moreno who is one of the best strikers in La Liga.

亚特兰大-国际迈阿密

这是本周末最引人注目的一场比赛，亚特兰大联队主场迎战迈阿密国际，迈阿密队主教练杰拉尔多·马蒂诺将重返他在2018年赢得美国职业足球大联盟杯的俱乐部。

这两支球队都曾在7月份的联赛杯上交手，当时迈阿密国际以4:0获胜。在此之前，在迈阿密又以2:1取胜(在梅西、布斯克茨和奥尔迪·阿尔巴到来之前)，下半场约瑟夫·马丁内斯打进两球。在那场4:0的胜利中，迈阿密的进攻和亚特兰大的防守之间的差距暴露无遗。

亚特兰大的三人后卫线几乎没有什么阻力，也许这就是为什么他们在联赛杯结束后又回到了4-2-3-1阵型。这让他们最近打得更好，在西雅图赢了一场，在主场4-0战胜了纳什维尔。然而，他们的防守再次开始失球。他们上周末2-2战平达拉斯，就在几天前，辛辛那提来到梅赛德斯-奔驰体育场，2-1获胜。

亚特兰大有一支不错的球队，而且在主场也很强大(27/42分，平衡为8/3/3)。他们最近表现不稳定，但他们是联盟第二高的得分手，所以我认为他们会给迈阿密的防守带来麻烦。然而，尽管他们只贡献了23.2个进球，但他们已经取得了32个进球。

吉奥戈斯·贾库马基斯是他们的头号射手，有13个进球，所以他将是一个危险人物。阿根廷国脚蒂亚戈·阿尔马达(Thiago Almada)是另一名关键球员，他在助攻榜上名列前茅，在为队友创造机会方面名列联盟前茅。

另一方面，上周因国家队比赛缺席的梅西和其他球星已经回归，尽管他们可能会很累，但他们将发挥重要作用。尤其是梅西(无论是首发还是替补)，自从他来到国际米兰后，他就一直是这样。

由于伤病问题，他错过了阿根廷对阵玻利维亚的最后一场比赛，主教练马蒂诺周五表示他们将“等到训练结束再做决定”，他有望上场，即使是替补上场。马蒂诺说梅西“很好”，他知道这场比赛对他们进入季后赛的希望有多重要。

即便如此，迈阿密证明了他们可以在没有他的情况下取得胜利，就像他们上周在击败KC竞技的比赛中所做的那样，布斯克茨和阿尔巴提供了足够的威胁，无论他是否从一开始就可以上场。

在他缺席的情况下，迈阿密上周以3-2击败了堪萨斯城体育队，莱昂纳多·坎帕纳替补梅西并梅开二度。他在过去的两场比赛中有三个进球，所以无论他是首发还是替补，我都希望他能成为一个威胁。

在两场比赛中打进两球的另一名阿根廷球员法昆多·法里亚斯也给人留下了深刻的印象，他于7月加盟。他既可以踢前场，也可以踢进攻中场，21岁的他，我认为他可以在大联盟产生巨大的影响。

亚特兰大队本赛季的防守表现很差，我认为他们无法抵挡国际迈阿密队的进攻，后者是目前美国大联盟中最好的进攻之一。此外，这支球队充满信心，自从梅西到来以来保持不败，状态非常好。

双方都有强大的火力，这意味着这里可能会有很多进球。最后，我相信迈阿密会在这里得到积分，继续他们的季后赛之旅，因为他们有更多的质量。

比利亚雷亚尔- almerÍa

比利亚雷亚尔在前任教练奎克·塞蒂安的执教下一团糟。防守很糟糕，几个球员态度不好，状态远没有达到最佳状态，球队没有竞争力。他们有一种不可妥协的风格，一种非常冒险的风格，对于像他们这样在防线上有大量机会的球队来说，这是不合理的。

在经历了糟糕的季前赛(7场比赛只有1场胜利，其中包括圣加仑6:1，纽卡斯尔4:0的惨败)和西甲前四轮的三场失利后，塞蒂安被解雇了。

所以比利亚雷亚尔现在开始了另一个更积极的时期。他们聘请了一位新教练——帕切塔，他在巴利亚多利德有丰富的西班牙足球经验，肯定会让这支球队踢得更好。

据几家当地报纸和记者报道，几名球员反对前任教练奎克·塞蒂安，这是他离开的原因之一。现在他们必须向前迈进，表明他们可以把事情做得更好。事实是他们可以。他们至少有足够的阵容去争夺欧联杯TOP6。

他们在转会市场上失去了一些关键球员，但从阵容来看，他们仍然是西甲最好的球队之一，而且他们彼此非常了解

另一方面，阿尔梅里亚是联盟中最差的球队之一。上个赛季，他们凭借糟糕的阵容创造了保级的奇迹，这要归功于他们出色的主场表现和一位善于进攻的好教练。但是现在他们有了一个新人，他仍然不知道如何和这支球队一起打球。

他们本赛季开局3负1平。其中三场对阵同级别的保级球队(巴列卡诺、加的斯、塞尔塔)。另一个令人担忧的事实是:他们还没能把比分保持在零。

Almería有一个可怕的防御。他们在战术上犯了错误，但在个人上也犯了错误，所以每场比赛都丢了很多机会。此外，他们的锋线也不像上赛季那样每场能进2-3球。

上赛季阿尔梅里亚是联赛中表现最差的客场球队，整个赛季(19轮)只取得1场胜利，13场失利，失43球。

我期待比利亚雷亚尔在这里有一个强劲的表现，他必须在新教练的带领下醒来。他们很有实力，在新教练的带领下肯定会有更好的表现，取得更好的成绩。客队是联盟中最糟糕的球队之一，他们没有太多的提升空间。

鉴于他们最近的表现，两支球队肯定会试图放慢比赛节奏，试图把比分保持在零。在这些情况下，胜利者将是最有效率的团队。而这里的比利亚雷亚尔更有实力，不需要太多的进球机会，尤其是像杰拉德·莫雷诺这样的球员，他是西甲最好的前锋之一。