Weekend Boxset: The milk cup

By Graham Sibley January 10, 2025

Weekend Boxset: The milk cup

The magic of the third round: Davids, Goliaths and a 40 year old advert from the Milk Marketing Board.

Seven great matches to take you from Friday to Sunday. It’s the Sound of Football Weekend Boxset.

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All times are UK

Friday

Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen

19.30 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event, Plus & Ultra
The Bundesliga Rückrunde kicks off with an attractive Rhein-Ruhr clash between two teams packed with international stars. Enjoy it while you can, as this may be the final half season of coverage of the Bundesliga here in Blighty as Sky Sports contract for this League expires at the end of the season. Reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen are looking to close the four-point gap on league leaders Bayern Munich but will need to do something that no one else has done so far this season and that’s win at the Westfalen. The title holders are waiting on the fitness of Granit Xhaka, and first choice striker Victor Boniface will definitely miss the game. Dortmund are missing a couple of key players in Waldemar Anton and Pascal Gross; the former Brighton player has probably been the most consistent of Borussia’s summer signings but is suspended for this game. Another possible absentee for Nuri Sahin’s side may be Donyell Malen who is the subject of considerable interest from Aston Villa. Borussia are sixth place in the table and are looking to recover after a disappointing first half of the season. The last time this fixture was played in Dortmund was in the back end of the season as Leverkusen were closing in on the title. The visitors were a goal down until Josip Stanisic popped up with a 97th minute equaliser which if you recall was a characteristic of B04’s campaign. This season they have scored just the one in stoppage time. If they can reacquire that habit of last gasp goals then we could be in for quite the game and title race. TD

Saturday

A-League: Perth Glory v Auckland

08.35 on TNT Sports 1
Nearly bottom meets potential champions elect in what is probably, but not guaranteed, to be an away banker. Perth are nothing if not triers but are very much the definition of crisis club, with the Australian Tax Office threatening to liquidate the club over an alleged $1m in unpaid taxes, a weak squad and a rookie A-League coach in David Zdrilic. The fact that Glory aren't bottom owes more to the hopelessness of an abysmal Brisbane Roar side than anything else. But if there's a chance for Glory, it's that Zdrilic was, for a brief period, Steve Corica's assistant at Sydney FC and will see a lot of similarities between Corica's Auckland side and how he set up the Sky Blues. Auckland are less than a year old, the latest expansion side to join the league, and while they are flying high at the top of the table, they're also not beyond an iffy performance if recent weeks are anything to go by. All of their dropped points have come since December, which suggests that opposition coaches are starting to get a handle on the Kiwis. If - and it's a big if - Perth can give Adam Taggart decent service then there may be a chance. But, look, who am I kidding? This is almost certainly an away victory and could even be a turkey shoot if Auckland bring their a-game to HBF Park. It would be nice to see Glory grab an unexpected point or three and would do much to lift the mood around Western Australia, but it's incredibly unlikely. GA

FA Cup third round: Liverpool v Accrington Stanley

12.15 on ITV1, ITVX and STV
Expect no cliche to go underbroadcast in this clash that is classic FA Cup fodder: Premier League leaders versus one of the country's worst football league clubs, top versus near-bottom, David versus Goliath, Roy of the Rovers stuff, and of course milk and Ian Rush for those of us who remember the 1980s advert. It's been nearly 20 years since Stanley regained their Football League status and in that time, they've made a habit of defying expectations and giving bigger teams bloody noses, despite being one of the smallest clubs in the 92. It's a bit fanciful to think that this will extend to overcoming Liverpool, especially with the FA now doing away with replays, which is exactly the type of move that hurts clubs like Accrington, who have sold out their allocation. While 4,700 Lancastrians will be willing their team on, a draw now no longer means the minnows live to fight another day. Not that it’ll reduce the magic of the occasion for both the supporters and players, including former Liverpool academy player Liam Coyle, and striker and boyhood Reds fan Josh Woods, whose reaction to the draw went viral. For us neutrals, though, the joy of watching these matches is the hope that Stanley can drag the likes of Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez back to the more intimate Crown Ground. That joy has now been ripped away, and its hard to expect Accrington to be able to beat Liverpool at Anfield over 90 minutes or longer. That said, Arne Slot is almost certain to rotate his team, rest any tired legs and potential injury concerns and send out a few academy graduates, some of whom may even end up in Stanley’s first team one day. Come for the magic, stay for the soul-sucking inevitability that Big Football will be the real winner. GA

FA Cup third round: Manchester City v Salford City

17.30 on BBC One & iPlayerAfter their recent spell on the canvas floor, last year’s FA Cup finalists dusted themselves off with back to back wins against an admittedly poor Leicester side and even poorer West Ham team. But as weak as they were, wins breed confidence and if City can overcome this potential banana skin of a cup tie against a very good League 2 side from just down the road, then City may have a platform for a decent second half of the season. But manager Pep Guardiola has some decisions to make. Does he rotate his squad against a lower league team and increase the risk of an upset? Reports suggest he will be resting some key players in favour of some of his hungry youngsters. James Macatee, who was a sub against Leicester and West Ham, may be in line for a start in the game. The 22-year-old left midfielder is reported to be a touch restless and anxious for more minutes if not at City then elsewhere (Bayer Leverkusen are reported to be interested in bringing him to Germany). Nineteen-year-old Jamal Simpson-Pusey is also reported to be a possible starter if Pep chooses to rest Bernardo Silva. This will be the first competitive match between these two neighbours. Salford as I’m sure you know are owned by a conglomerate including former Manchester United greats Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, David Beckham, Phil Neville and Ryan Giggs. This will be a proud moment to see their team line-up against their great rivals and I’m sure most of the media coverage will focus on this group (with the exception of Giggs). And manager Karl Robinson should approach the game with some optimism in view of their opponent’s recent troubles. They may be massive outsiders to progress to the fourth round but Robinson’s team had a fantastic December and sit third in the League 2 table. TD

Sunday

FA Cup third round: Tamworth v Tottenham Hotspur

12.30 on ITV1, ITVX and STV
The FA Cup is back! Well, for the big boys it is. In reality it’s been going on since early August. Not that today’s hosts have been slugging their way through since then, the National League sides joined in mid-October when Tamworth knocked out Macclesfield FC. Successive victories against Huddersfield Town and Burton Albion ultimately got them the golden ticket (more on that later) to a home tie to a Premier League club. Alright, they might have preferred less of a bin-fire of a club, like Everton or Man United, but the football gods brought them Spurs. The Lamb Ground holds 4,000 souls who usually pay around £20 to watch Tamworth play. However, this weekend, tickets have more than doubled in price and even the kids will cost you £25 each. Cynical opportunistic capitalism or the sad reality of life as a National league club? Of course, it’s the fans that always have to pay regardless of the reason. Clearly, the directors of Tamworth aren’t going to turn down a pay-day, but the reality that’s driving this is that clubs towards the bottom of the pyramid scarcely get a dribble of what could trickle-down. If trickle-down economics actually worked, they’d put a stop to it. A further driver is the end of replays in the FA Cup from round one, so the smaller clubs are forced to grab all they can while they can. It’s all pretty miserable when you think about it too much, which we often do at SoF Manor. Good luck to Tamworth! I hope they continue their run. Not just because I like a fairytale cup-run, but because Ange Postecoglou made the fate-tempting statement “I always win things in my second year”. Home win - please! JB

FA Cup third round: Arsenal v Manchester United

15.00 on BBC One & iPlayer
These two sides have won more FA Cups than anyone else but one of them won’t be in the hat for the fourth round. It was just a over month ago when these two teams met at the Emirates in the Premier League. At the time, United were on a realitively good run; unbeaten in seven following the sacking of Erik ten Hag. Defensive frailties at set pieces were exposed by Arsenal and the 2-0 defeat sparked the start of what was the worst month of results for United for 94 years. They’ve not won at the Emirates since the last time they played an FA Cup tie there in the fourth round six years ago - a 3-1 win that saw Alexis Sanchez scoring the opener for United against his former club. A confidence restoring draw at Anfield last weekend shows there is still life in United, and against an Arsenal side starting to show signs of tiredness they could have enough to put last month’s result behind them. For Arsenal this is already their fourth game of 2025 while for United it is only their second. Ruben Amorim’s side have had a rare full week off while Arsenal huffed and puffed against Newcastle in their EFL Cup semi final first leg defeat on Wednesday. Arsenal are missing the danger that Saka provides, and while the bout of illness in the squad appears to have passed, Odergaard and Havertz are still not at their best. If they are to be reliant on set pieces again, Arsenal will have to be far less wasteful than they were against the Dirty Mags. GS

Serie A: Napoli v Hellas Verona

19.45 on TNT Sports 1 and OneFootball
Two teams from opposite ends of the table - the disciplinary table that is. Verona lead the table (or are rooted to the bottom depending on how you look at it) on the counts of both red and yellow cards. Meanwhile Napoli are the best behaved in Serie A having received fewer than half the number of yellows than today’s visitors and not seeing red once. Verona have managed to rack up six reds so far this season, the latest being issued to former Hertha and Schalke midfielder Suat Serdar, picking up a second yellow 20 minutes before the end of his side’s 0-0 with Udinese last weekend, a result that saw Hellas end a run of three straight home defeats. Verona head coach Paolo Zanetti was in real danger of getting fired towards the end of the old year but consecutive 3-2 away wins have taken the heat off a little for now, and has lifted the side two points away from the bottom three. With a comfortable 3-0 win at Fiorentina last weekend, Napoli have been able to open a three point lead at the top table while title rivals Inter and Atalanta were busy in Riyadh in the four team Supercoppa Italiana (won by Milan, instant success for new head coach Sergio Conceicao). This match should allow Antonio Conte’s side to maintain their lead at the top but if Verona can keep their discipline maybe they can get something from it. GS

Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry, Jan and Gary