The World Cup in Qatar takes its toll. PSG is noticing it, destined for the highest glory with three of the best players in the world in front: Mbappé, Messi and Neymar. It leads Ligue 1, but has its closest rival, Lens, only three points away. Both tied in their respective matches last day. Nobody shies away from anything, but the efforts of Leo and the French striker with their respective teams should have an impact after an atypical World Cup in which the players showed their good form, but it is possible that they end up paying for the added pressure of the matches of Christmas.
Napoli reigns in the Italian league with overwhelming authority. He leads second-placed Inter by 13 points, while defending champion Milan, who seemed to have regained his pulse, was thrashed in his own stadium by Sassuolo, who ranks 16th in Serie A, with an insulting little hand ( 2-5). The red and black have gone six games without winning and are out of the positions that give access to the Champions League in the standings. Juventus maintains its crisis after the 15-point penalty for the Plusvalías case and also lost at home against Monza.
Bayern have seen their lead in the Bundesliga reduced from four points to one after the World Cup. They are still leaders, but they have Union Berlin one point away and Leipzig two. This Saturday they were unable to beat Eintracht Frankfurt, despite the fact that on the first day they had endorsed a humiliating 1-6 in the middle of August. The Bavarian team is full of players who were part of the German team that played such a poor role in the World Cup in Qatar when it was eliminated in the first phase, with good football but lousy results.
The players coached by Mikel Arteta rule the Premier League over Guardiola's City, whom they currently distance with five points, but Arsenal find themselves with one game less. The one that is suffering the most in England is Liverpool, 21 points behind the leader and recently eliminated from the FA Cup at the feet of Brighton. It occupies ninth place in the standings, one ahead of Chelsea, another big one that has come down since the Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich left in 2022 and the club has plunged into a carousel of disproportionate transfers and a clear lack of rudder in decision making. The former owner had taken it to the top and after the forced sale chaos reigns.
The crisis may be temporary if the pre-World Cup tone is recovered, but except for Barça and Madrid in the Spanish League (the blaugrana take five points from the whites) the rest of the great Europeans are suffering more than expected after their cracks passed for Qatar. And the Champions League has not yet arrived.
