The overperforming teams of Europe’s top-five leagues

Europe’s top five leagues are the Serie A, Premier League, Ligue 1, La Liga and the Bundesliga, and they have some of the best clubs on the continent at the moment.

These top-flight divisions have their biggest clubs, and we expect to see them in competitions like the Champions League every season.

This means they must finish inside the top four in their respective leagues, which has happened more often than not, even though there are seasons where an underdog breaks that stronghold.

Last season in the Premier League, Liverpool were punished for their inconsistent run of form, which involved a lot of losses and draws.

They were in transition after improving their squad with the likes of Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo, but where they had their biggest problem was in midfield.

Eventually, they paid for not winning consistently by finishing fifth in the Premier League and losing their place in the top four to Newcastle United.

Chelsea and Tottenham were similarly dismal, which helped Arsenal and Manchester United to return to the Champions League spots.

This term, traditional teams are losing ground across Europe’s top-flight leagues, and some underdogs are overperforming and ensuring they stay inside the top four.

In this article, we look at some of the teams that make fans buy tickets on seatsnet to watch their team play every week.

Nice

PSG are undisputedly the best club in France, and the presence of Kylian Mbappe in their squad continues to set them apart in the French top flight.

Luis Enrique’s men did not start this season well and struggled to meet the likes of Nice and AS Monaco, who topped the standings for weeks.

However, as the season progressed, the defending champions are now clear at the top, but Nice has remained second in the standings for weeks.

This means they are set to return to the Champions League at the end of this campaign, which will be remarkable because they last played in a Champions League qualifier in 2018.

Their manager, Francesco Farioli worked with Brighton’s Roberto de Zerbi and the 34-year-old is highly-rated in European football.

His team is packed with quality youngsters, and it is easy to see why they are good enough to replace Olympique Marseille and the struggling Lyon as the second-best club in France for years.

Bayer Leverkusen 

The biggest story of the season in European football has been Bayer Leverkusen’s rise to become the leading club in Germany this term.

Xabi Alonso was a superb midfielder, but even at that, there were doubts that he would do a good job in Germany when Leverkusen made him their boss.

In just two years, he has made them the strongest side in Germany and overtaken Bayern Munich at the top of the standings in their league.

They have also just matched Bayern’s record of going 32 competitive games without a defeat in all competitions in a season.

Alonso seems to be Liverpool-bound after being tipped to replace Jurgen Klopp at Anfield, and he would want to end his time in Germany with the Bundesliga, German Cup and Europa League treble.

VFB Stuttgart

Another surprise package of the season in Germany is VFB Stuttgart, who are being led back to the Champions League by the in-form Serhou Guirassy, who has scored 18 goals in his first 16 league games.

Stuttgart started this season well, and alongside Leverkusen, they could change how the German top four is at the end of this season.

Because of their fine run of form, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig are struggling to get into the top four in the Bundesliga.

These two are usually Bayern’s main rival, but Stuttgart’s fans have been treated to some exciting attacking football that is brave and entertaining, making it hard not to consider them one of the favourites to play in the Champions League next term.

After 22 league games, they sit comfortably in the 3rd position in the Bundesliga and would be around that position for a long time unless they suffer a major collapse.

Bologna

Thiago Motta is one of the former top European players who is having a fantastic spell as a manager this season.

Many people are focused on the amazing job that Xabi Alonso is doing at Bayer Leverkusen, but Bologna is also turning heads with their performance every week in the Italian Serie A.

Bologna has never played in the Champions League and made three appearances in the European Cup before now.

They have been a struggling side in Italian football in the last decades and usually settle for a bottom-half or midtable finish.

However, in this campaign, Motta is making their fans dream again, and they are doing very well, with the likes of Joshua Zirkzee, Lewis Ferguson and Riccardo Calafiori impressing for them.

The top three in Serie A is expected to be between Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan, but Bologna is in the mix to finish this season in the fourth position alongside the likes of Atalanta, AS Roma and Lazio.

However, even if they are rewarded with just a Europa League spot at the end of this campaign, it would have been a remarkable year for the Red and Blues.

Girona

For so long, at the start of this season, Girona threatened to tear the script of European football this season by ending this campaign as the Champions of Spain.

Michel Sanchez’s team has come from nowhere to stun fans across Europe with some brave attacking football.

They have been known as a team that does not give up, and they have a lot of goals in them, which makes it easy for them to record upsetting comeback wins.

This term, fans have watched them defeat Barcelona at Camp Nou and Atletico Madrid at home, with both games ending with high scorelines.

Real Madrid is the only reason Girona has lost the top spot in La Liga finally as Los Blancos humbled them with a 4-0 defeat in the latest meeting between both clubs.

Girona still remains second in the La Liga standings and is on course to finish this term inside the top four in Spain, which will be a beautiful story.

Aston Villa

Unai Emery’s Aston Villa remains inside the Premier League’s top four after 25 matches in the competition this season and are keen to finish in that Champions League spot.

The Spaniard has worked his magic to keep Villa dreaming after an amazing start to this season, especially whenever they play at home.

Villa watched Newcastle United finish above Liverpool in the top four last season and seem to believe they can replicate that success.

The Villans are now above Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea in the standings with 13 league matches left to play.

It is easy to see they mean business, and if they keep getting the results against top and bottom opponents in this second half of the season, it will be difficult to kick them out of the top four.