As we move into the tail end of the season for all of the European leagues, it’s become clear that the title race for the Premier League will be the most watched out of the main five as Arsenal and Manchester City battle it out to see who will come out on top. Arsenal currently holds a five point lead over Man City, however, they have two more games played, so City has the chance to take the lead if they come out with two wins. What will truly determine the title race is when they both face off on April 26. If Arsenal were to grab a win, then I think they would have done enough to win the title, but a string of mediocre results has hurt them. As an Arsenal fan, I haven’t seen them raise a trophy of this magnitude in my lifetime, but I must admit then I am very nervous awaiting the finale.
Looking at the other main European leagues, we can see in the La Liga that FC Barcelona has a commanding lead over anyone else. Not even Real Madrid or Athletico Madrid can catch them realistically. As long as we don’t see a historic implosion then Barca should reign victorious. Traveling east to Italy, Napoli has the Série A title in the bag with a 17 point lead over Lazio. In a little bit I will explain the Milan derby that awaits in the Champions League semi finals. With not much to cover about Italy, we’ll go north to the Bundesliga where Dortmund and Bayern Munich are wrapped in a closely contested matchup that is only separated by one point. Dortmund holds a one point lead over Munich, but with plenty more matches to go, it’ll come down to how they perform against the bad teams by making sure they don’t give up a surprise loss or draw. Lastly, Ligue 1 in France has been dominated by PSG, even though Marseille has been very steady all season. They hold an eight point lead at the moment, and it’s very unlikely that they will be caught. All in all, it’s been a very good season for Mariselle, but if they want the trophy next year then they can’t afford to have seven draws.
Quickly transitioning to the MLS, by the tiniest margin STL City SC holds the lead in the Western Conference. They lost out on a win against Colorado this weekend when they gave up a game tying goal in stoppage time. I watched that game and I very clearly understood one thing, the defense is an issue. We have the goalscorers, and we have the goalkeeping, but the defense has been lacking this season, and it’ll be important that this is fixed before we lose too much ground in the Western Conference.
Finally looking at the Men’s and Women’s Champions League, we are in the midst of the semifinals with the finals coming closer and closer. With the women’s tournament, after the surprising upset of Lyon in the quarterfinals, the draw seems to be as good as it can be for favorites FC Barcelona. Going into the second leg, they look to keep their one goal lead over Chelsea, and potentially expand it in the second game. In the other semifinal, Arsenal and Wolfsburg are locked 2-2, but with Arsenal’s recent injuries, Wolfsburg might have the edge that they need to push themselves into the final. Switching gears to the men’s, though they compete in a little over a week, excitement is building for the Milan derby when Inter Milan and AC Milan face off. Tensions are always high between these teams, but they will be taken to the extreme in something as big as the Champions League semi finals. In the other matchup, it’ll be between two powerhouses with Man City and Real Madrid. For me, it’s hard to not consider Man City the favorites, but Real Madrid always seems to shine in these types of games, so we’ll have to see in May who will come out victorious.
The State of Soccer in the World 