European leagues - The final stretch

By David Lee Wheatley

Battle for the title

The top six European leagues are nearing their final stages of the 2012-13 season as we speak and today I look at the battle for the league title in each one in a bid to assess which teams are in the driving seat in their respective domestic league.

The English Premier League is a one-horse race with Manchester United sitting pretty 11 points clear at the top from their local rivals Manchester City, with ten games remaining. Last season is still a haunting memory for United having lost the league on goal difference to the men from the Etihad; the Red Devils will be determined to wrestle superiority in England back from their nearest and dearest.

CHAMPIONS VERDICT: MANCHESTER UNITED

Over to La Liga in Spain, it’s another runaway leader in the form of FC Barcelona. The Catalonian super-club have experienced a sticky few weeks in the Copa del Rey and Champions League, but have managed to consolidate their dominance in the Spanish top-flight by the margin of 13 points from Real Madrid. Long-time chasers Atlético Madrid have failed to keep in the hunt and are now in third position a further point behind.

CHAMPIONS VERDICT: FC BARCELONA

Serie A looks signed, sealed and delivered to Juventus with their nine-point lead looking enough to hold off challengers Napoli. Milan appear more focused on finishing the job in the Champions League against Barcelona and are too far back from Juve to mount a late surge.

CHAMPIONS VERDICT: JUVENTUS

The most dominant side domestically across Europe’s top leagues are Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. The Bavarian side have decimated all opponents in developing a 20-point lead over Borussia Dortmund and there seems no let-up from the league leaders in their pursuit for the title. Mathematically, the championship hasn’t been sealed just yet, but with only nine matches left it won’t be long.

CHAMPIONS VERDICT: BAYERN MUNICH

The French championship has lost a lot of the better players from the league, many of whom joined Newcastle United in the England in January! However, the glamour and ‘pzazz’ has been partially restored by the arrival at Paris Saint-Germain of world superstar David Beckham. His new club top the table by four points from nearest rivals Lyon, but there are ten games remaining and PSG’s continued participation in the Champions League could cause their attention to be taken away from Ligue 1. A rejuvenated Steed Malbranque has sparked Lyon into title contention, while Marseille lie seven points adrift of PSG in third and probably won’t have enough to catch them.

CHAMPIONS VERDICT: LYON

The closest race of the six featured leagues is taking place in the Dutch Eredivisie with four clubs in with a chance of glory. Ajax went a point clear at the weekend from both PSV and Feyenoord, while fourth-placed Vitesse are in touch only three points behind the Amsterdam-based leaders. FC Twente were in with a great shout of the league title only a few weeks ago, but have fallen away from the pack alarmingly. The Dutch league is by far the hardest to call and realistically it could go one of three ways.

CHAMPIONS VERDICT: AJAX (only just!)


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