Soccer on TV: How to watch Brenden Aaronson’s Red Bull Salzburg debut

Friday, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN+)

Dortmund’s flickering title hopes were all but extinguished with another ugly loss, this time by 2-1 at Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday. Gio Reyna’s team is 10 points back of first-place Bayern Munich, and in an almighty logjam in the Bundesliga standings. Though Dortmund is in fourth place with 29 points, eighth-place Eintracht Frankfurt has 27.

Monchengladbach is in seventh place with 28, and is on a four-game unbeaten run. And Dortmund fans know all too well that Monchengladbach manager Marco Rose is a top candidate to become Dortmund’s boss next season. A win here would be the latest proof of why.

Friday, 2:45 p.m. (ESPN+)

It’s an FA Cup weekend in England, and it starts with a fantastic Cinderella story. Chorley is a sixth-division team in Lancashire that plays in a century-old stadium with a capacity of 4,300. The town of the same name has a population of just under 35,000. Wolverhampton has fallen to 14th in the Premier League, and an FA Cup third-round win over Crystal Palace is the team’s only victory in a month.

These teams have met in the FA Cup before, back in 1986. They played to a 1-1 tie, then a replay (which is how the FA Cup traditionally handles ties) also ended 1-1. So there was a second replay, and Chorley stunningly won it, 3-0.

History can’t fully repeat itself this weekend because there are no replays this season, but an upset now would be just as sensational as the last one.

Friday, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)

The second of two games this week between these teams gives U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski a chance to use players who didn’t play in Monday’s 4-0 win. Andonovski said Thursday that he’ll do exactly that, with “significant” rotation of his lineup and hopefully use of all six available substitutes. The only reason he didn’t use all six Monday is that forward Sophia Smith suffered a minor injury in pregame warm-ups.

Players to watch include midfielder Andi Sullivan, who hasn’t played a game for club or country since tearing a meniscus in July; Catarina Macario, who made her long-awaited U.S. debut Monday; and prospects Jaelin Howell, Emily Fox, and Alana Cook.

» READ MORE: Sam Mewis’ hat trick, Catarina Macario’s debut highlight USWNT’s 4-0 win over Colombia

Saturday, 9:30 a.m. (ESPN+)

Leverkusen’s win over Dortmund helped the team hold on to third place. John Brooks and Wolfsburg are hot on their heels, in fifth place with 29.

Saturday, noon (ESPN+)

Milan is still holding on to first place in Serie A, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic is roaring again after missing eight games because of a calf injury. He scored both goals in a 2-0 win at Cagliari this past Monday.

» READ MORE: This weekend's Serie A schedule

Saturday, 12:30 p.m. (ESPN+)

Cheltenham is the weekend’s other FA Cup celebrity underdog, a fourth-division team hosting one of the Premier League’s superpowers. Man City hasn’t lost since Nov. 21, a span of 16 games.

» READ MORE: This weekend's FA Cup schedule

Saturday, 3 p.m. (beIN Sports, beIN Sports Español)

The Madrid media have been howling with frustration since Real got shockingly ousted from the Copa del Rey by third-tier team Alcoyano. As soon as the final whistle sounded, there was another round of calls to fire manager Zinedine Zidane. But he still has the Madrid board’s backing for now. A win in this game should settle nerves, and it should be easy to come by. Alaves is in 17th place, fourth from last, and just one point above the relegation zone.

» READ MORE: This weekend's La Liga schedule

Sunday, 7 a.m. (NBCSN)

It’s hard to believe that Arsenal is just three points back of first place in the FA Women’s Super League. Last Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Reading was ugly, and manager Joe Montemurro is on the hot seat. West Ham has just seven points from 10 games this season, and Houston Dash striker Rachel Daly’s loan there has run out. So this should be a Gunners win, but that likely won’t be enough to ease the pressure.

» READ MORE: This weekend's FA Women's Super League schedule

Sunday, 8:30 a.m. (Twitter.com/ForTheFansHQ, Facebook.com/ForTheFansHQ)

Austria’s Bundesliga returns from its winter break this weekend, which means it could be Brenden Aaronson’s Red Bull Salzburg debut. The Medford-born, former Union midfielder got his first unofficial playing time for his new team in a scrimmage last Saturday against second-division team Vorwarts Steyr. Aaronson played all 90 minutes and scored a goal.

» READ MORE: Union sell Brenden Aaronson to Red Bull Salzburg for $6 million, launching the Medford native to Europe’s soccer spotlight

Sunday, 9:30 a.m. (ESPN+)

Schalke forward Matthew Hoppe is the hottest name in American soccer right now. The 18-year-old Southern California native singlehandedly saved the team from breaking the record for the longest winless streak in Bundesliga history, and has scored in three straight games — including a hat trick against Hoffenheim on Jan. 9 in the streak-snapping win.

But this weekend will likely remind everyone that Schalke is stuck at the bottom of the Bundesliga standings. Bayern, meanwhile, continues its rampage: in first place by four points with 49 total goals scored. That’s 16 more than any other team in the league.

» READ MORE: This weekend's Bundesliga schedule

Sunday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

England’s most famous rivals meet again this weekend, this time in the FA Cup and on United’s home turf. Liverpool is coming off its first loss at home since April 2017, an ugly 1-0 defeat to Burnley that snapped a 68-game unbeaten streak at Anfield. There are serious questions about whether the Reds are running out of gas. And unlike the scoreless tie between these teams last weekend, there has to be a winner this time.