Soccer on TV: Liverpool-Manchester United, Lazio-Roma, Inter-Juventus, and the USWNT’s first game of the year

Friday, 12:45 p.m. (ESPN+)

If you haven’t watched France’s women’s league before, you’re going to want to get to know it, because it will soon be the home of U.S. women’s national team young phenom Catarina Macario. She’s joining Lyon, the 14-time reigning French champion.

But as the league returns from its winter break, Lyon isn’t in first place. The honor belongs to PSG, the perennial runner-up, featuring great French striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Chilean goalkeeper Christiane Endler. This game will be a good test. Bordeaux, led by Jamaican forward Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, is in third place, and held PSG to a scoreless draw in September.

» READ MORE: NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird faces heat over complex draft rules and Catarina Macario joining Lyon

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

It’s a big weekend in Germany’s Bundesliga, starting with the first of two games between teams in the top six. Jamaican winger Leon Bailey and third-place Leverkusen need a win to keep pace with first-place Bayern Munich. Fifth-place Union could move up to fourth with a victory.

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

The Rome derby is traditionally one of the most spectacular not just in Italy, but also all of Europe. While there won’t be fireworks in the stands this time, hopefully there will be a good game on the field at the venerable Stadio Olimpico. Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan have led Roma to third place, having lost just three of 17 Serie A games this season. Lazio, led by prolific striker Ciro Immobile (16 goals in 19 games this season), is surprisingly down in eighth place.

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

Tyler Adams and second-place Leipzig could temporarily jump to the top of the Bundesliga with a win over John Brooks’ sixth-place Wolfsburg. Bayern Munich would retake first with a win over Freiburg on Sunday (9:30 a.m., ESPN+), but a Leipzig win this weekend would bolster the team’s title credentials.

» READ MORE: This weekend's Bundesliga schedule

Saturday, 12:30 p.m. (NBC, Universo)

This game could feature three Americans on the field: Christian Pulisic for ninth-place (yes, really) Chelsea, and Antonee Robinson and Tim Ream for 18th-place Fulham, which is battling to avoid relegation.

» READ MORE: This weekend's Premier League schedule

Sunday, 9 a.m. (atafootball.com, NBCSports.com)

This should be a star-studded matchup: Chelsea’s Sam Kerr, Pernille Harder and Ji So-Yun vs. Manchester United’s Tobin Heath and Christen Press. But it comes with a big caveat: The FA Women’s Super League has been ravaged by COVID-19 outbreaks this month, with some tied to English players taking vacations in the Middle East. Five of last weekend’s six games were postponed.

Let’s hope the players who contracted the virus have recovered by now. But the recriminations from those vacations will linger for a while.

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

Sunday, 11:30 a.m. (Peacock)

Let’s get it out of the way: Yes, another huge Premier League game is on Peacock instead of regular TV. Fans are understandably upset.

Will there be enough anger this time to force NBC to change its ways? The network has held firm through putting Manchester United-Arsenal, Manchester City-Liverpool and Chelsea-Liverpool on the subscription streaming platform.

But this game is on a different level from those. Liverpool-Manchester United is the biggest rivalry in all of English soccer, and the teams are the top two in the Premier League for the first time in years — with United jumping over Liverpool on Wednesday to seize first place.

On top of that, United’s and Liverpool’s American fan bases are among the deepest and longest-established of any teams in Europe. For as big as Manchester City and Chelsea have become here, the two teams in red still resonate more than the two teams in blue.

If this game was on NBCSN, it might set the record for the most-watched Premier League game in U.S. TV history, or at least the record for a game on cable. Alas, it’s not, and that’s everyone’s loss.

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

Lazio-Roma is a big rivalry in Italy. So is Milan-Inter. But there’s only one matchup called the Derby D’Italia, and it’s Inter-Juventus. The stakes are as big as ever, with Inter in second and Juve in fourth, and the stars are, too: Inter’s Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez against Juve’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Weston McKennie.

Monday, 7 p.m. (FS1)

The U.S. women’s soccer team’s first game of 2021 could feature Megan Rapinoe’s and Carli Lloyd’s first game action of any kind since last March. The returns of those superstars is big news, but it’s not the biggest news. On Wednesday, FIFA finally approved Macario’s eligibility to play for the U.S., which means this game could be her debut.

The world always watches when the U.S. women play, but it will especially be watching for that — and know that Macario is primed to carry on the Americans’ dynasty.

» READ MORE: Catarina Macario is on her way to becoming the USWNT’s next big star