Newcastle enjoyed a meteoric rise during the first 18 months of their new era under the control of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund but the Magpies' progress has stalled this season.In stark contrast to the early days of Abu Dhabi's huge investment at English champions Manchester City, Newcastle have been limited on how heavily they can lean on their new-found wealth from the Gulf.
Kylian Mbappe is set to sample the fiercest rivalry in French football for the final time before his expected departure at the end of the season as Paris Saint-Germain make the trip to Marseille on Sunday.That means he is unlikely to sample the heated atmosphere of the 67,000-capacity Velodrome again any time soon after this Sunday.
Napoli renew their bid for Champions League football on Saturday when they take on rivals Atalanta with the Juan Jesus racism storm making it a bitter Easter weekend for the ailing Scudetto holders.Player to watch: Juan Jesus Jesus is set to start against Atalanta in a match which kicks off the Easter action in Italy and he will inevitably be the focus of attention after a messy two weeks away from domestic football.
Even though both sides are in the shadow of Xabi Alonso's unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen, there is still plenty to play for in Saturday's Bayern Munich-Borussia Dortmund clash.Fixtures (1430 GMT unless stated) Saturday Borussia Moenchengladbach v Freiburg, Eintracht Frankfurt v Union Berlin, Bayer Leverkusen v Hoffenheim, Werder Bremen v Wolfsburg, RB Leipzig v Mainz, Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund (1730) Sunday Augsburg v Cologne, Stuttgart v Heidenheim (1630), Bochum v Darmstadt (1830) dwi/pb