La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and Eredivise round-up: Who's flying high across Europe?
Tuesday 15 March 2016 12:03, UK
As we head into the crucial final few months, we evaluate how things stand across Europe, as PSG seal title success in record time and Atletico keep things interesting in Spain.
With the thrills and spills not just confined to the Premier League, we take a look at Spain, Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands, and explain who the front-runners are, whose goals have been pivotal to their respective team's fortunes, and who has exceeded all expectations by sitting in a lofty position.
PSG secure title in record time
One defeat against Lyon last month is the only blot of PSG's domestic copybook, and their total dominance of Ligue 1 was made complete on Sunday with a 9-0 victory thrashing of bottom side Troyes clinching the fastest Ligue 1 triumph ever, emulating Gerard Houllier's achievements with Lyon in 2007.
That most emphatic of successes means the Parisians hold an unassailable 25-point lead over second-placed Monaco with eight games remaining.
The race for the final Champions League places remains hotly contested, though, with surprise package Nice still in third, spearheaded by a rejuvenated Hatem Ben Arfa.
Atletico keeping La Liga title race interesting
Zinedine Zidane hasn't enjoyed the fairytale start to life in charge at Real Madrid, and admitted he is worried by his side's displays after a lacklustre showing in a fortunate 2-1 win at Las Palmas on Sunday.
Spanish expert Guillem Balague was very critical of Real's form, and thinks Zidane has got a huge job on his hands to turn things around.
Los Blancos sit 12 points behind rivals Barcelona, who have re-written the record books with consummate panache.
The Catalan giants have now gone an incredible 37 games unbeaten in all competitions - surpassing Real Madrid's all-time record dating back to 1988-89.
La Liga title glory has not been sealed yet, however, due to the stubbornness of Atletico Madrid, who have built on a derby success over Real to record another three successive wins since to keep pace with Barca in second.
Diego Simeone's men have built their title tilt on their almost impenetrable defence - boasting the meanest back-line in Europe - but the goals have also started to flow of late, with their talisman Antoine Griezmann overcoming recent lean spell to get among the goals once again.
'MSN' still trailing Ronaldo in scoring charts
Experts are running out of superlatives for Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar. The trio have notched 66 league goals between them, and have done so with a style that has wowed audiences the world over.
Even penalties have been spiced up by the flamboyant trio, with Lionel Messi passing a spot kick for Luis Suarez to seal his hat-trick against Celta Vigo.
Messi may rue that generosity, and his recent profligacy from the spot, as Cristiano Ronaldo still tops the scoring charts, despite some indifferent form.
But if Real are going to salvage anything from their league campaign, they'll need Ronaldo to step up against La Liga's top sides, as the Portuguese is yet to score against any of the top five this campaign.
Serie A - Old Lady back from the dead
After a woeful start to the season, Juventus have completely turned things around, and now lead Serie A by three points - a feat that looked unlikely after Massimiliano Allegri's side only managed to secure one point from their three opening games.
A run of 13 wins and a draw in their last 14 games has brought them back from the dead, with new Argentine superstar Paulo Dybala leading the line with aplomb.
Roma looked like they were planning to give Francesco Totti the chance to secure one more Scudetto, but their leaky defence has led to them falling out of the running.
Only Ronaldo has more league goals in Europe's top leagues than Gonzalo Higuain, and his goals have almost single-handedly kept Napoli in the title hunt, three points behind Juventus.
Roberto Mancini remains under pressure at Inter, as a run of just four wins in their last 11 league games has seen the Nerazzurri slip out of the Champions League qualification places.
Bundesliga - Dortmund keeping the pace
Bayern Munich again looked to be running away with the Bundesliga title, giving Pep Guardiola more domestic honours in his final season in Germany, but a familiar foe blew the title race wide open.
Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel and former coach Jurgen Klopp both made their name at Mainz, and Bayern's home defeat at Klopp and Tuchel's breeding ground allowed Dortmund to close the gap at the top to five points.
Robert Lewandowski's goals have once again helped Bayern lead the way, but Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is just two goals behind, and his role in a new-look Black and Yellows set-up has helped Tuchel excel with a more free-flowing style than his predecessor.
The rest are mere pawns in the battle, with the top two having met twice already.
Eredivisie - Feyenoord let rivals in
It looked like the Eredivisie was going to have a challenger to the Ajax-PSV stronghold this campaign.
Feyenoord trailed then-leaders Ajax by just two points in mid December, but then lost a record seven games in a row to fall well out of contention, bringing in Dick Advocaat as technical advisor to arrest the slump.
PSV lead the way by one point, but Ajax have a superior goal difference in second, and in such a tightly-contested season, it could well come down to that.
Live La Liga Football
