The big European leagues are close to reaching their halfway point and, after an atypical season with the World Cup in Qatar in the middle, the current champions are in low hours. Far from that best version that precisely led them last season to win the league title in their respective domestic competitions, there are many candidates who want to hit the table and end their reign. With the crucial and decisive months of the season still aheadthe current winners in Europe will try to defend a crown that falters more and more strongly.
Barça looks Madrid in the eye again
With two defeats in the last four league games and missing eight points after the Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu, the image of Real Madrid in Riyadh has ended up setting off all the alarm bells at the white club. And to make matters worse, it has coincided with the definitive resurrection of Barcelona and the first title of the Xavi era. A lower than usual performance of the key pieces of Carlo Ancelotti coupled with a sports planning with few rotations They have led Madrid to show clear signs of wear.
With 38 points to 41 for Barcelona in the 16 games playedthe whites seek to recover the regularity that will take them back to the throne of LaLiga. Real Madrid won its thirty-fifth league title in the 2021/22 season with three dates remaining and, from day 14 of the championship, he held on to the lead to never let go again. Now, and after the World Cup break, the level of the white team has gone from more to less and Doubts about revalidating the league title are already hovering over Concha Espina.
Guardiola’s reign falters
In recent years, Liverpool and Manchester City have waged a battle at all power for the reign of the Premier League with the citizens conquering it four of the last five years. But this season, a great hidden in recent times in England and Europe has risen from its ashes to face Pep Guardiola’s team: Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. With a project based on young people and with Martin Ødegaard as conductor, the gunners They have consolidated their project and presented their unexpected candidacy to lift the Premier.
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With 47 points in his locker, Arsenal is the sole leader and leads Manchester City by eight points. The Haaland effect seems to have evaporated and Pep Guardiola’s team is going through a situation of some instability with two wins in their last five games. last campaign, the skyblues achieved an agonizing Premier, to the detriment of the networksafter a historic comeback on the last date against Aston Villa, but if the gunners They don’t take their foot off the accelerator the chances of the Etihad celebrating a league title again are diminishing more and more.
The ‘king’ of France, wrapped in doubts
During the last decade, the clear dominator of Ligue 1 has had a name and surname: Paris Saint Germain. And it is that since the pharaonic investment of the sheikhs together with the arrival of great signings, PSG has turned the list of winners of the competition upside down, winning eight of the last ten domestic titles. Only Monaco in the 2016/17 campaign and Lille in 2020/21 managed to avoid the Parisian title. This season, Christophe Galtier’s team leads the table with 47 points, 44 for Lens and 42 for Olympique de Marseille, while last season PSG won Ligue 1 with a 15-point advantage.
Now, the sensations are not positive in the Parque de los PrÃncipes with two defeats in the last three league games and a considerable drop in the performance of the ‘MMN’ due to the World Cup in Qatar. In just a month, PSG will face Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16. The Parisians will set their sights on the long-awaited ‘Orejona’ that they have turned into an obsession, while Lille and Marseille will be on the lookout to get into the shortlist for the league.
The Milan can not with the rhythm of the Naples
After eleven years of drought, Milan conquered the shield Last season regularly by flag. With a great defensive level (he conceded 31 goals throughout the season), the explosion of Rafael Leao (voted best player in Serie A with 11 goals and 9 assists) and the figure of Zlatan Ibrahimović (8 goals), Stefano Pioli culminated his great work in a campaign for the memory of the fans rossoneri.
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but this season Napoli is a roller that dominates Serie A with 47 points, nine more than the rossoneri and 10 more than Juventus. At cruising speed, Luciano Spalletti’s team is becoming the great sensation in Italy, but also in Europe. In the Champions League, the Azzurri they qualified as group leaders and will face Eintracht in the round of 16. With Victor Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia and a crowd hungry for titles who dreams of winning his third shieldMilan will have to sweat Chinese ink to end the Neapolitan dream.
Bayern’s monopoly
If there is a club that seems to have no rival in its league, it is Bayern Munich. The Bavarians already have ten consecutive Bundesliga titles and their power in German football is indisputable and unattainable. This season, Julian Nagelsmann’s team dominates the league with 34 points, although Freiburg (30) and Leipzig (28) are not about to give up so soon.
Despite the departure of Robert Lewandowski towards Barcelona, Bayern recovered easily with more than established footballers such as Sadio Mané or Matthijs de Ligt. The other big part of the Bavarian season goes through Europe, where the Germans will face one of the main title candidates, PSG, in the round of 16. A) Yes, Freiburg and Leipzig hope to take advantage of Bayern’s European asset to try to storm the throne of the Bundesliga.
other leagues
In the Portuguese League, Benfica leads the standings with 41 points, 37 for Braga and 36 for Porto that wants to defend the title. Schmidt Roger’s team led by Enzo Fernández and Gonçalo Ramos only added one defeat and seeks to conquer a league that has resisted them for four years now. In the Eredivisie, Feyenoord dominates the table with 37 points and a slight advantage over Alkmaar (33) and Ajax (32). The godenzonen They are in a negative streak of results (five games without knowing the victory), although they will try to assert their status as favorite (36 titles) to end up taking the trophy.
Similar is the situation in the Jupiler Pro League. Genk (52 points) are looking to succeed Brugge (34) who are in fifth place and have won the Belgian league for the last four seasons. Even so, the journey of Scott Parker’s team in Europe is being different and more beautiful, since they managed to overcome the group stage of the Champions League and will face Benfica in the round of 16. By last, in Turkey they have no owner, because in the last four seasons, no team has managed to repeat the title. The last to do so, a Trabzonspor that this season occupies the sixth position. With Galatasaray the sole leader, the aslanlar cymbom They want to raise a Süper Lig that they have not achieved since the 2018/19 campaign.