WEEKEND SOCCER ON TV
The league championships have largely been decided in Europe’s top leagues but in many countries the competition for the scoring title is compelling:
Portuguese Liga:
Benfica is running out of time to catch unbeaten Porto atop the Liga table but can’t blame that on Jonas, its 33-year-old Brazilian striker. Jonas leads Europe with 25 goals heading into the weekend and he’ll try to add to that total Saturday when Benfica, second in the standings on goal differential, goes on the road to play Pacos de Ferreira, which is one point out of the relegation zone (Gol TV, 12:30 p.m. PST).
Ligue 1:
The battle for the Golden Boot is closer than the one for the league title in France, where Paris Saint-Germaine teammates Edinson Cavani (23 goals) and Neymar (19) lead fellow South American Radamel Falcao of Monaco (17). PSG, which enjoys a 12-point advantage over Monaco in the team standings, plays at home Sunday against thirdplace Marseille (BeIN Sports, noon), the team now run by former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.
Bundesliga:
In Germany, the scoring race is as one-sided as the league title race with Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski’s 20 scores giving him a seven-goal lead over Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who isn’t even playing in Germany anymore after going from Borussia Dortmund to England’s Arsenal last month. Lewandowski, who has scored in four of his team’s last five games, can make history if he scores another goal Saturday against Hertha Berlin because that would give him at least one goal in all 12 of his team’s home matches. (FS2, Unimas, 6:30 a.m.).