Title race situation in Europe’s major leagues: Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A....
As we approach the final stretch of the 2021-22 season, many league title races are set to go to the wire with the Ligue 1, Bundesliga and LaLiga champions as good as resolved.
As we approach the ‘business end’ of the 2021-22 season, many of European football’s major leagues are throwing up mouth-watering title races, as is the case in England and Italy with the likes of the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, LaLiga and Primeira Liga champions a mere formality with just a handful of games remaining in each competition.
Premier League
Many football fans across the planet concur that Manchester City and Liverpool are two of finest teams in world football currently with the ‘Reds’ still in contention for four trophies this season after Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final win over Manchester City.
In the Premier League, the ‘Sky Blues’ hold a slender one point lead at the top of the table with both sides recently serving up a scintillating 2-2 draw in the Etihad. Seven games remain with Liverpool possibly having the trickier run-in starting with a home game on Tuesday night as for the first time in history, City fans will be hoping that Mancunian rivals United secure a win at Anfield.
All this talk about quadruple or treble is from the outside world
Liverpool have already won the League Cup and face Villarreal in the Champions League semi-finals later this month. No English team have ever won all four trophies available in a single campaign and defender Van Dijk said Liverpool would take it one game at a time.
“All this talk about quadruple or treble is from the outside world and could put extra pressure on us” claimed the Dutch defender.
Serie A
In recent years, Italy’s Serie A championship has become a one-horse-race with Turin giants Juventus winning nine of the last ten titles. A horrendous start to the season has seen the ‘Old Lady’ off the pace and the club now have their eyes set on securing a top four finish which would guarantee Champions League football next season.
The city of Milan is serving up a hotly disputed contest between Inter and AC Milan with the ‘rossoneri’ aiming to win their first Scudetto since the 2010-11 season. Current champions Inter lie two points behind their neighbours but with a game in hand and Simone Inzaghi’s men have a potentially easier run-in before the conclusion of the competition in May.
Napoli are still not out of the running but will need three points as they face Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma this evening to keep their Scudetto dreams alive.
LaLiga
A dramatic late win in Seville on Sunday night saw Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid take a massive step towards a 35th LaLiga title as they hold a commanding 15 point lead at the summit with just six games outstanding. FC Barcelona do have two games in hand over ‘Los Blancos’ as they face Cadiz CF on Monday and Rayo Vallecano next weekend but with such a significant gap and just 18 points on the table, only a historic capitulation would deny the Santiago Bernabeu side from lifting the title.
Barça and Sevilla look like leading candidates to secure second and third places with an intriguing battle brewing between Real Betis and Atletico Madrid for the all important fourth place spot and the guarantee of Champions League football next season.
Bundesliga
Bavarian giants Bayern Munich are set to complete 10-in-a-row as once again, the ‘reds’ have dominated the Bundesliga with some meek competition from an irregular Borussia Dortmund.
Bundesliga 2021/2022
| Classification | PTS | WM | TM | LM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Bayern | 72 | 23 | 3 | 4 |
| 2B. Dortmund | 63 | 20 | 3 | 7 |
| 3RB Leipzig | 54 | 16 | 6 | 8 |
*Data updated to date Apr 18th, 2022
Just four games of the 2021-22 season remain in the German top flight and with a 9 point advantage over BVB, Bayern could be proclaimed as champions when both sides face off in next weekend’s ‘Der Klassiker’ at the Allianz Arena.
Thh 2021-22 league title will be Bayern’s 32nd as their domestic success dwarfs that of the competition with the next most successful side being Nuremberg with 9 league wins.
Ligue 1
Paris St Germain continued their march towards a record-equalling 10th French title when goals by Neymar and Kylian Mbappe earned them a 2-1 home victory against bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille on Sunday.
Neymar’s early opener for PSG was cancelled out by Duje Caleta Car before Mbappe’s penalty sealed the win and put PSG on 74 points.
The Parisian giants now lead second-placed Marseille, who had a late equaliser disallowed, by 15 points with six games left and could be crowned champions next weekend as Pochettino’s men travel to Angers midweek before facing Lens.
Primeira Liga
FC Porto fans would have been smiling last night after Benfica won the Lisbon derby at Sporting de Portugal (2-0) in the 30th round of the Portuguese league, with another goal by Uruguayan Darwin Núñez.
The ‘charrúa’ striker had scored three goals last weekend against Belenenses (3-1), and a goal in the 3-3 draw that cost his team’s elimination in the Champions League against Liverpool on Wednesday and is now appearing on the ‘wanted’ list of many top European sides.
Benfica are third in the table with 67 points to Sporting’s 73, but the big beneficiaries on Sunday were Porto, who beat Portimonense 7-0 on Saturday and now have a nine-point cushion at the top with just four games to go in the championship.
Sérgio Conceição’s men face Braga next weekend and could even be crowned as champions should they secure a win and Sporting slip up later that night as they face Boavista.