The title race for any league is supposed to be an unpredictable competition that goes down to the final few games, but teams have started to gain monopolies on their leagues, winning them almost every year. These monopolies have started to make league competitions almost boring because the same European giants win them every year.
We are about half-way through the season, so gaps between these teams and the rest of the league should be forming. Although, it seems that this year the kings may be overthrown all across Europe.
European Giants Being Challenged Across the Continent
The Premier League
Manchester City were the kings of the Premier League, winning every possible domestic title in England last season. One year later, they look like a completely different team, 14 points behind Liverpool, the league leaders. They’ve been inconsistent, dropping points in what should’ve been easy games. They’ve dropped points to Manchester United, Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Norwich City. The Cityzens were easily brushed aside by Liverpool, making it look like this title race is already over.
The Bundesliga
The Bundesliga is ruled by Bayern Munich. They have won the competition a historic seven times in a row. However, they sacked their manager, Niko Kovac, this season due to bad results in the Bundesliga. Their fortunes haven’t changed after his sacking. They currently sit in fifth place on the table.
They have been a very strong side this season, securing dominant results in games where you would expect them to, but they don’t turn up in some games, leaving them to drop easy points and fall down the table.
In order for Bayern to turn this around and still somehow win the league, they will need to keep their form throughout every game in the second half of the season.
Serie A
Juventus are the most prestigious side in Italian football, having won the league eight consecutive times. This year, the race is closer than ever. The Bianconeri are tied for first with rivals Inter Milan.
Meanwhile, Lazio stand only three points behind the two teams and remain strong contenders in the race. Even though Juventus have only lost one game all season, their displays haven’t been convincing, as they are still adapting to Maurizio Sarri‘s system. The season is far from over, and Juventus are still easily in contention, but this is a very close race.
This year is host to some of the most exciting title races in recent history. Monopolies are being overthrown, but they are fighting back to retain their title. As we enter the second half of the season, the race will start to heat up as stakes are raised. This is setting up for a colourful end to the season.
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