Where were we? How we stand in Europe’s top five leagues ahead of resumption after 2022 World Cup
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Published 19/12/2022 at 16:33 GMT
With the 2022 World Cup over we now can return our focus to the wonderful world of club football. But wait, it's been over a month since you probably saw your team play? Can you remember how they were doing? Wait, are Barcelona really top of La Liga? And who's that challenging PSG and Bayern Munich? Let's recap everything that has happened thus far shall we?
Balague on Messi’s journey to greatness after incredible World Cup triumph
Well that utterly bizarre interruption (congratulations to Argentina!) is finally over and now we can get back to the good stuff.
Yes that’s right, club football is mere days away after the players have the shortest of breaks (depending on the league) you could imagine after a long tournament and they have to go again for the next five months.
But after so long without club football there’s a chance you may have forgotten where we stand across Europe.
So without further ado let’s refresh our memories and look at when each league resumes...
England – Premier League
You might have forgotten that perennial underachievers over the past few years Arsenal are actually leading the Premier League table. Of course that assumes that you don’t have an Arsenal fan in your life constantly reminding you of that fact. We can’t guarantee this but we feel as if everyone has a loud Arsenal fan in their lives, so it’s possible that everyone does actually remember that the Gunners lead the pack. Arsenal will return to action without Gabriel Jesus after he was injured at the World Cup.
Defending champions Manchester City are in second whilst plucky (and oil-rich?) Newcastle United are in third with Harry Kane’s Tottenham Hotspur just behind them in fourth. Traditional powerhouses Manchester United, Liverpool, Brighton & Hove Albion and Chelsea round off the top eight.
Panic stations for new Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui, who takes over a team bottom of the league. Another new manager, Nathan Jones, sits just above him with Southampton and the final team in the relegation zone are newly-promoted Nottingham Forest, who don’t have a new manager.
Resumes on: December 26
Current top four: Arsenal (37 points), Manchester City (32 points), Newcastle (30 points), Tottenham (29 points)
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Erling Haaland
Image credit: Getty Images
Spain – La Liga
If you still have the image of Barcelona and their expensive summer signings crashing out of the Champions League group stage in your head you may be surprised to be told that they are top of La Liga, two points ahead of defending champions Real Madrid. The latter’s stumble away at Rayo Vallecano in the penultimate game before the break gave their arch-rivals the chance to lead over the break and that is exactly what they did.
In a sight that everyone likes to see, the two big Basque clubs, Real Sociedad and Athletic Club, sit third and fourth respectively. Atletico Madrid and Real Betis are just behind them whilst Osasuna and the aforementioned Rayo sit in seventh and eighth as the two surprise packages of the season thus far.
At the other end of the table Sevilla are in a world of trouble, sitting in 18th place. Cadiz and Elche are the two teams below them.
Resumes on: December 29
Current top four: Barcelona (37 points), Real Madrid (35 points), Real Sociedad (26 points), Athletic Bilbao (24 points)
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Xavi
Image credit: Getty Images
Italy – Serie A
Napoli are the form team in Europe this season. They are yet to lose a game in Serie A and are top by a whopping eight points. Everyone’s favourite Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia being the hot commodity before we all forgot about him because his country didn’t qualify for the World Cup. Holders AC Milan are the team giving chase whilst Juventus, for all their various catastrophes, such as their entire board resigning, are in third with Lazio in fourth.
Pre-season darlings Roma are in seventh with Udinese and Torino springing a slight surprise sitting right behind them.
Down at the bottom there are three teams who are yet to reach double-digits for points. Cremonese in 18th, Sampdoria in 19th and Hellas Verona in 20th. The January transfer window will be absolutely critical for these three.
Resumes on: January 4
Current top four: Napoli (41 points), AC Milan (33 points), Juventus (31 points), Lazio (30 points)
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Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli)
Image credit: Getty Images
Germany – Bundesliga
Would it shock you to learn that Bayern Munich are top of the Bundesliga? Yes despite some scares old reliable still leads the way in Germany. But it’s a mighty close-run thing. SC Freiburg’s fairytale under Christian Streich sees them in second-place whilst RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt and another high-flyer, Union Berlin, round off the rest of the top five.
Bayern’s traditional challengers Borussia Dortmund are down in sixth place, and whilst not in crisis they are pretty close to it. Former Real Madrid, Liverpool and Bayern midfielder Xabi Alonso had Bayer Leverkusen showing signs of life before the break and whilst they are down in 12th they are very much one of the form sides.
One of the biggest clubs in Germany, Schalke, are currently bottom whilst another of the historic sides, Stuttgart, are in 16th and have hired Bruno Labbadia, again. Bochum currently split the two big guns in the bottom three. Although remember Germany’s 16th-placed side goes into a play-off against the third team in the second division.
Resumes on: January 20
Current top four: Bayern Munich (34 points), SC Freiburg (30 points), RB Leipzig (28 points), Frankfurt (27 points)
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Christian Streich (SC Freiburg)
Image credit: Getty Images
Ligue 1 – France
Again, tell me if you’ve heard this one before, but Paris Saint-Germain are top of Ligue 1. Quite incredibly the teams who are putting pressure on them in the other Champions League places are RC Lens and Stade Rennais. Not exactly minnows but for the former in particular a truly remarkable achievement thus far.
The best of the rest in terms of France’s traditional big guns are Marseille, in fourth place under Igor Tudor. Monaco, Lille and Lyon sit in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. Aaron Ramsey, Ross Barkley and Kasper Schmeichel’s adventure in Nice see them in ninth.
The interesting thing about Ligue 1 this season is that they are moving to 18 teams from next season so there are four teams going down. Auxerre, Ajaccio, Strasbourg and Angers currently occupy those places. Angers in particular are a real worry with only eight points.
Resumes on: December 28
Current top four: Paris Saint-Germain (41 points), RC Lens (36 points), Stade Rennais (31 points), Marseille (30 points)
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Neymar Jr., Kylian Mbappé and Leo Messi (PSG)
Image credit: Getty Images
Other notable leagues (Scotland, Portugal and the Netherlands)
I am extremely sorry that your league wasn’t chosen here but these are the three we went with. In Scotland perennial champions Celtic are nine points clear of arch-rivals Rangers. Aberdeen are in third and Hearts find themselves in fourth. Dundee United prop up the table.
In the Eredivisie Ajax are NOT top of the table. The defending champions are three points behind rivals Feyenoord. PSV and man in-demand Cody Gakpo are level on points with Ajax under Ruud van Nistelrooy. AZ Alkmaar are only a point behind them and FC Twente two points further back. Whisper it, but the Netherlands may have a proper title race this year.
And finally in Portugal things are slightly less close. New Benfica manager Roger Schmidt has hit the ground running, winning 12 of the first 13 league games and drawing the other. They are eight points ahead of champions FC Porto. Braga round off the top three with the other of Portugal’s Big Three, Sporting CP, in fourth. Casa Pia are the surprise package of the season, sitting in fifth with a very good chance of getting European football.
Champions League
Barcelona, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Sporting CP, RB Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sevilla and Juventus. Those are the eight teams who are going through to the Europa League.
In terms of the last 16 we have some pretty tasty ties, including a re-match of last year’s Champions League final with Real Madrid against Liverpool. There’s also AC Milan v Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich and the “no-one likes us” derby as RB Leipzig face off against Manchester City.
Europa League
The only really big team to drop down into the Conference League are Lazio. With the new format we now have a play-off between the eight teams who dropped into the Champions League and the eight runners-up from the Europa League group stage.
The undoubted tie of the play-off sees FC Barcelona face off against Manchester United. A repeat of the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals. Ajax v Union Berlin, Bayer Leverkusen v Monaco, Sevilla v PSV and RB Salzburg v Roma are other intriguing ties.
Conference League
Like the Europa League there is a play-off now between the eight runners-up from the Conference League group stage and the eight teams who dropped down from the Europa League.
Braga v Fiorentina is a big clash given the teams involved as well as Lazio v CFR Cluj and Trabzonspor v Basel.
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