A Midweek of Homecomings

Longstaff faces Newcastle as Tanaka's Leeds host them at Elland Road

• Sean Longstaff spent years at Newcastle before moving to Leeds, so this is a reunion for the box-to-box midfielder. At 187cm he brings running power and a shot from distance, and he knows Eddie Howe's methods better than anyone else on the pitch.
• Daniel Farke splits midfield duties between Ao Tanaka and the 194cm Anton Stach. Tanaka settles matches through sheer volume of touches and a very high pass completion rate; Stach wins the physical exchanges. How that pairing copes with Joelinton and Jacob Ramsey pushing forward will shape the evening.
• Newcastle can call on the 198cm Nick Woltemade, Yoane Wissa, a reliable scorer during his Brentford years, and the direct pace of Anthony Elanga. Joe Rodon at 193cm and Jaka Bijol at 190cm give Leeds height at the back, but they will be asked to defend speed as well as crosses. It is a Monday night kick-off in England.

Real Madrid head to the Martínez Valero, where Chust meets the club that raised him

• Elche's Víctor Chust came through Real Madrid's academy and was once called into the first team under Zinedine Zidane. On loan from Cádiz, he now defends the Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero against the club that made him.
• Eder Sarabia's Elche line up with Federico Redondo, son of Fernando, as the anchor, Facundo Buonanotte, who has been through Brighton and Chelsea, in the pockets, and academy graduate Gonzalo Villar back where he started. Whether that midfield can keep the ball rather than clear it will define the night.
• Carlo Ancelotti has two finishers from different generations in Kylian Mbappé and Endrick, plus Arda Güler's left foot and the delivery of Trent Alexander-Arnold. Elche answer on the flanks with Thomas Lemar, a veteran of Monaco and Atlético, and long-serving club favourite Josan.

Rioja returns to Mendizorrotza, and Valencia carry a 19-year-old from Tokyo

• Valencia's Luis Rioja spent five seasons at Alavés, so Mendizorrotza is familiar ground for the left-footed winger. Jonny, comfortable on either foot, and Argentine full-back Nahuel Tenaglia will be the ones asked to deal with his dribbling and cut-inside runs.
• The home side have their own ties to the visitors. Toni Martínez, a 187cm target man, has Valencia on his CV, and first-choice goalkeeper Sivera came through the Valencia academy. Eduardo Coudet's team know exactly who they are hosting.
• Valencia's squad includes Ryunosuke Sato, the 19-year-old who joined permanently from FC Tokyo in July 2026. He spent roughly a decade in Tokyo's system, and at 171cm he relies on technique and forward drive, qualities that made him central to Japan's youth national teams. How Carlos Corberán works him into the side is one of the season's subplots for Japanese viewers.

Racing return to the top flight at Barcelona, with Canales leading his hometown club

• Sergio Canales was born in Santander and has played for Real Madrid, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Real Betis and Monterrey before returning to the club he supported as a boy. He takes the penalties, free-kicks and corners, and simply seeing a LaLiga great walk out at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys is reason enough to watch.
• Racing's promotion push was driven by Iñigo Vicente and Andrés Martín. Vicente, an Athletic Club youth product, unpicks tight spaces and strikes set pieces; Martín, raised at Rayo Vallecano, was the team's leading scorer in the promotion campaign. Behind them stands Julen Agirrezabala, the left-footed goalkeeper who won the Copa del Rey with Athletic.
• Hansi Flick can select Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Raphinha and Gavi, with the 193cm Joan García, an Espanyol academy product, behind them. Racing's back line, including the 193cm Facundo González who joined permanently from Juventus, must decide how high to meet Yamal as he drifts inside from the right.

Itakura and ter Stegen's Ajax welcome a Willem II side back up after one season

• Ko Itakura is the first Japanese player in Ajax's history and brings 188cm of height and hard-edged duelling to the back line. His path through Kawasaki Frontale, Vegalta Sendai, Groningen and Schalke to a regular role at Borussia Mönchengladbach suggests his reading of the game travels well. He can also drop into midfield, which gives Ajax a lever depending on how Willem II set up.
• Marc-André ter Stegen is in goal. Raised at Mönchengladbach and a fixture at Barcelona for over a decade, he arrived in Amsterdam on loan in August 2026 after a spell at Girona earlier in the year. He is heavily involved in building from the back, so whether Willem II press him early will set the tone.
• Willem II came through the play-offs to return to the top flight after a single season away, and they have assembled a young, loan-heavy squad. Experienced heads such as Justin Hoogma, a veteran of Hoffenheim and Greuther Fürth, and Hidde ter Avest, long a regular at Utrecht and Twente, must decide where to meet an Ajax attack featuring Kasper Dolberg and Mika Godts.

Japan meet Vietnam at the Asian Games, in an early-evening slot at home

• Japan's women face Vietnam in the Asian Games football tournament, kicking off on Thursday evening in Japan. In a week otherwise dominated by late-night European fixtures, this one actually lands at a civilised hour for viewers at home.
• The Japan pool includes Saki Kumagai, a long-serving captain whose career took in Lyon and Bayern Munich, Yui Hasegawa and her remarkable control of the ball, and Hinata Miyazawa, the Golden Boot winner at the 2023 Women's World Cup. Squad composition at a tournament like this is hard to predict, but the depth behind the first-choice names is precisely the point.