What to watch in the leading soccer leagues in Europe this weekend:
ENGLAND
The pressure on Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho will ratchet up if the team loses at Burnley on Sunday for a third straight defeat in the Premier League.
United has lost to Brighton and Tottenham in its last two games — conceding three goals each time — to put Mourinho on the defensive and in an irritable mood.
Burnley can be a tough place to visit, but Sean Dyche's side is having its own problems this season as its small squad juggled Premier League and Europa League competition. Burnley, which went out of the Europa League at the playoff stage on Thursday night after a 1-1 second-leg draw against Olympiakos, is looking to end a run of back-to-back losses in the Premier League.
Four teams have a 100 percent record after three games and two of them meet this weekend, with Watford hosting Tottenham. Liverpool travels to Leicester for the early kickoff on Saturday and Chelsea hosts Bournemouth later that day.
Defending champion Manchester City hosts Newcastle in Saturday's late game after picking up seven points from a possible nine.
— By Steve Douglas
ITALY
Roma's visit to AC Milan on Friday is being labeled Serie A's first "American derby" since both Roma and Milan are under U.S. ownership now.
While Roma has been in American hands since 2011, when a group of four Boston executives took over control of the capital's club from the Sensi family, Milan's transformation is much more recent.
U.S.-based hedge fund Elliott Management took over control of Milan last month after the club's former Chinese owner, Li Yonghong, missed a deadline to repay part of a loan.
Both sides are coming off disappointing results. In its only match so far, Milan squandered a two-goal lead in a 3-2 loss at Napoli while Roma had to come back from two goals down to draw with Atalanta 3-3 on Monday.
Also this weekend, Cristiano Ronaldo seeks his first Italian league goal in his third appearance when Juventus visits Parma. Ronaldo didn't score until his fourth Spanish league appearance with Real Madrid last season — although he did score in other competitions during that span.
Napoli, which is perfect like Juventus, visits Sampdoria — the Genoa club which is playing its first home match since a bridge collapse in the port city killed 43 people.
— By Andrew Dampf in Rome
SPAIN
Surprising newcomer Huesca faces its toughest test yet when it visits defending champion Barcelona in the third round of the Spanish league.
After making its first-division debut with a 2-1 win at Eibar, the small club from northeastern Spain followed up with a 2-2 draw at Athletic Bilbao to stay near the top of the standings early on. Another good result Sunday at Camp Nou would be a resounding statement for the club which a decade ago hadn't even made it to Spain's second division.
Barcelona and Real Madrid are the only teams with a perfect start after two rounds. Real Madrid will go for three in a row against Leganes in a Madrid derby on Saturday.
The Valencia derby between Levante and Valencia — still winless despite high hopes after a great season a year ago — takes place Sunday at Levante's stadium, and a few hours later Real Betis will host Sevilla in the Seville derby.
Saturday's game between promoted Rayo Vallecano and Athletic Bilbao was postponed because of safety concerns at the stadium used by Rayo in Madrid.
— By Tales Azzoni in Madrid
FRANCE
Defending champion Paris Saint-Germain travels south to play promoted Nimes on Saturday, 25 years after they last met in Ligue 1.
PSG is likely to be tested both by an ambitious Nimes, which has won two of its opening three matches, and by a hostile crowd. PSG sometimes struggles when playing away at teams in the south, such as Nice and Montpellier, because fans there traditionally reserve a vitriolic welcome for PSG's players.
PSG is level on nine points and goal difference with Dijon, a small club in eastern France only formed 20 years ago. Dijon will look to continue it remarkable start with a home win against lowly Caen on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Monaco hosts Marseille on Sunday night in an important match for both teams — who have picked up just four points each so far. They met in the fourth round of matches last season, too, with Monaco crushing Marseille 6-1 at home.
Also, striker Mario Balotelli returns to add much-needed firepower to Nice's attack away to Lyon on Friday. Coach Patrick Vieira's Nice side has only picked up one point, with Balotelli suspended for the first three matches.
— By Jerome Pugmire in Paris.
GERMANY
Goals are all but guaranteed when Borussia Dortmund gets the Bundesliga's second round of games underway at Hannover.
Not one of the 52 previous meetings between the sides ended 0-0. Dortmund, which opened its league campaign with four goals against Leipzig, also boosted its attack with the addition of former Barcelona striker Paco Alcacer, who could make his debut on Friday.
Defending champion Bayern Munich visits Stuttgart on Saturday, when Borussia Moenchengladbach visits Augsburg and Bayer Leverkusen hosts Wolfsburg.
Leipzig hosts promoted Fortuna Duesseldorf on Sunday, before Schalke hosts Hertha Berlin.
— By Ciaran Fahey in Berlin.
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Fernando Mendoza arrived on Indiana's campus last January carrying huge expectations for himself and the program.
Outsiders almost immediately dubbed the new, highly touted transfer as the quarterback who could lead Indiana's football program to unprecedented heights. Some even suggested Mendoza could be a Heisman Trophy candidate and possibly the top prospect in the 2026 NFL draft.
But the grounded grandson of Cuban immigrants ignored the chatter and focused instead on proving himself all over again.
Mendoza wasted no time earning the respect of his new teammates thanks to a relentless work ethic. He quickly impressed coaches with his unflappable poise, uncanny natural instincts and unconventional study habits. The Miami native and former Cal star found his exuberant, humble personality fit perfectly in this Midwestern college town John Mellencamp depicted in his hit song “Small Town.” And eventually Mendoza's penchant for making clutch plays put him on the big stage, winning college football's most prestigious individual award in a landslide.
Now as the 22-year-old tries to etch one final chapter into this seemingly made-for-television Hollywood script — leading what had been major college football's losingest program to its first national championship in front of a throng of family and friends just about a 40-minute drive from his parents' home — Mendoza continues to insist he's just along for the ride.
“I think it's the other way around," he said last Friday when asked about the impact he's had on Indiana's program. “If you told me (this would happen) a year ago — I believe a year ago today or the day before actually is the day I arrived on campus — Hoosier Nation, the coaching staff and the entire sports staff has given me so much opportunity here and (shown) so much belief in my character and my play, not only as a player, also as a leader that I’m forever in debt.”
By now, Mendoza's tools on the field should be obvious to even casual football observers.
His arm is strong enough to make any throw and his accuracy is almost unmatched. He's also capable of extending plays with his legs and when the top-ranked Hoosiers (15-0, No. 1 CFP) need a key play, Mendoza seems to deliver on cue. Miami coach Mario Cristobal has seen all of it on film.
And while Mendoza graciously shares credit with those around him, coaches and teammates recognize they're heading to Miami this weekend largely because of Mendoza's ability to make a game-changing play on any snap.
“The throws he makes, they just wow you every time,” All-American linebacker Aiden Fisher said. “The job he’s done this year has been nothing short of remarkable. He’s the best football player in the country, and I don’t think it’s close. He's done such a phenomenal job being a leader for us, somebody we can depend on, we can count on every single time. He’s fantastic at everything he does.”
That includes the part most fans never see.
Teammates watched Mendoza spend countless hours studying film, dissecting defenses and preparing for every potential game-day contingency. In the rare moments Mendoza isn't working, he's probably watching other games searching for something he can add to his repertoire.
That example helped Mendoza not only win over the locker room but also become a beloved figure inside of it.
“He’s just the ultimate professional, a wonderful teammate,” starting center Pat Coogan said. “He prepares like no one I’ve ever seen. He works his butt off like no one I’ve ever seen and he’s just an awesome locker room guy on top of that.”
But Mendoza’s reach goes far beyond football.
He often explains how the daily battle his mother, Elsa, wages against Multiple Sclerosis helped him learn to cherish every precious moment of this incredible journey. Mendoza also talks openly about how his faith has helped him excel as a person and a player and that he relies on prayer, meditation and Bible study sessions to navigate the highs and lows of life and football.
And his ability to balance so many things has come at such a young age that he has turned even the most hardened football people into true believers.
"He's a special guy. I mean, he’s extremely intelligent, and people recognize that," blunt-talking Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said recently. “He’s got a great relationship with the guys, and it’s mainly the older guys, obviously. Those guys hang together. But I think what he’s done behind the scenes to bring the offensive unit even closer together — and those are a lot of things I’m not aware of at the time, I find out later — he's just done a tremendous job in every single area you could impact team success.”
Mendoza was hardly a household name coming out of powerhouse Christopher Columbus High School in Miami.
His first scholarship offer came from Yale. His only Football Bowl Subdivision offer came from California. But it was there, in Berkeley, where Mendoza's career trajectory changed.
After redshirting in 2022, he won the starting job in 2023 and threw for 1,728 yards, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. In 2023, his completion percentage improved from 63.0% to 68.7% as he finished with 3,004 yards, 16 TDs and six interceptions.
The problem: He was sacked a staggering 41 times.
So when the opportunity came to play behind a better offensive line, chase a national title and join his younger brother, Alberto, in Bloomington, Fernando Mendoza was sold. Naturally, Mendoza started cramming even before Indiana's winter semester started.
“Having that playbook at home already, because Alberto was in my parent’s house, I definitely started diving into it during Christmas break in the off time,” Fernando Mendoza said, referring to 2024. "Ever since I’ve been trying to be consistent in the film room, in the playbook in order to gain a mastery (of the offense).”
By then, though, he'd already been turning heads in Bloomington.
While Cignetti liked the commitment, the passion and the drive for perfection he saw during Mendoza's recruiting visit, other people noticed different things.
Receiver Elijah Sarratt remembers Mendoza “trolling” his future teammates with inside jokes that typically take players months or years to get and athletic director Scott Dolson found Mendoza to be uniquely genuine.
“All the stuff you hear him say, it's all authentic and real,” Dolson said. “He cares more about winning and his teammates than he does about himself, and I think that's a good lesson for other student-athletes to see or the next generation around the country — that it's not all about you.”
Still, it's hard to ignore the results.
Mendoza leads the nation with 41 TD passes, a school record. He's the first Indiana player to win the Heisman and just the third quarterback to lead the Hoosiers to a Big Ten crown. He's now the favorite to be the first draft pick in April, and he finds himself squarely in the middle of perhaps the most astounding two-year turnarounds in sports history.
Yet here Mendoza stands, one win away from delivering the first 16-0 season in major college football since the 1890s, and all he wants to do is share the spotlight with everyone around him.
“It’s been a great journey, I believe, for all of us,” Mendoza said. “I still remember when I was in the transfer portal, coach Cignetti said, ‘Hey, if you’re going to come here, you’re going to develop into a hell of a quarterback, and it wasn’t about, at that point, hey, ’I’m going to promise you a national championship.' It was you’re going to develop and have that belief.”
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Indiana wide receiver Elijah Sarratt (13) celebrates his touchdown reception with quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) during the second half of the Peach Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) reacts during the second half of the Peach Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal against Oregon, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Oregon linebacker Nasir Wyatt (32) strips the ball from Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) during the first half of the Peach Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) celebrates after the Peach Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal against Oregon, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) kisses the trophy after the Peach Bowl NCAA college football playoff semifinal against Oregon, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
