Christmas Euro Football Report!

It's Christmas time and Europe's major football leagues now head into their annual mid-season break. While the Bundesliga is not back until towards the end of the January, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 should be back by the 2nd weekend of the new year.

In the meantime, here's a look at the season so far in Europe.

Spain

The usual suspects of Real Madrid and Barcelona are up there although it is not Real who are the leading Madrid team, with Atletico Madrid putting on a surprisingly compelling case for the title, sitting tied with Barcelona at the top of the league going into the festive period. Barca and Atletico will play each other in the 2nd weekend of the new year in what could be an absolute cracker given how well Diego Simeone's men have played. 

As usual, the rest of La Liga has been pretty tight with Athletic Bilbao just ahead of a very tight chasing pack led by Real Sociedad. Athletic's form at their new home and in the 2nd halves of games has been the key in keeping them in the last Champions League spot.

Disappointment? Real Betis would naturally be chosen - for such a big club, to be stuck at the bottom so far from safety is a huge disappointment - and it did result in a managerial change with Pepe Mel sacked, replaced by Juan Carlos Garrido in December. Things are looking grim for Seville's 'other' club along with Rayo Vallecano and Almeria but given how tight the bottom of La Liga is, that could all change.

Germany

To say that this has been Bayern Munich's season so far doesn't quite do justice to their campaign up to this point. Sure, they've been helped by the inability of their closest rivals, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund, to play catch, but the current world champions have warmed up to their new coach and infused the Guardiola culture of football.

Indeed, it would be a huge shock if Bayern didn't win their 2nd title in a row at a canter at this time.

Borussia Monchengladbach are clearly Germany's 4th best team at this time and making another push for Champions League football next season, while another former German champion, Eintracht Braunschweig, have definitely struggled in their first season back in the top flight, fighting off last season's surprise packages, SC Freiburg and FC Nurnberg.

Italy

Serie A's revival may be slow at this time, but there is no denying that Italy's top flight is short on goals nowadays. It has been quite a start to the season with Napoli then Roma taking turns to lead the table -
Roma thanks to their impressive 100% start. However, with Juventus now 5 points clear at the top, one wonders if the signs are ominous for the rest of the league.

It is pretty tight as ever behind the top 3 with Internazionale, Fiorentina and newly promoted Hellas Verona pushing hard for European football - the Veronese have definitely been the surprise of the season so far thanks to former Italian international Luca Toni's goals.

It's also pretty tight at the bottom with newly promoted Sassuolo initially looking out of depth but slowly finding some form. They're still favourites to go down with their strength lacking compared to seasoned campaigners, Bologna and Chievo who have found form. Livorno and Catania are in the bottom 3 at the moment with them.

France

Paris St Germain have continued their recent dominance of French football even if as things stand, they are still "only" 4 points clear of fellow billionaires, AS Monaco and "ugly yet efficient" Lille. They should win the title in the new year given the strength of their squad and the power of Cavani and Ibrahimovic although Monaco should be quietly satisfied if they finished 2nd and in the Champions League spots in their first season back in France's top flight.

It's tight again with Marseille, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne and newly promoted Nantes pushing for the Europa League spot. At the bottom, Sochaux and Ajaccio looked doomed at the moment with Valenciennes, Evian and former champions, Montpellier fighting to stay above water.

Elsewhere..
In Holland, Ajax Amsterdam and Vitesse Arnhem are fighting hard for the Eredivisie title with Feyenoord having recovered fully from their disastrous start to the season to be 4 points behind them.

In Portugal, it is extremely tight at the top with Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Benfica all tied on 33 points at the top of the Liga, well ahead of Estoril. This could very well be the league to watch in the new year.

Team of the Season So Far...

Manuel Neuer, Bayern Munich (GK)

David Alaba, Bayern Munich
Dante, Bayern Munich
Jerome Boateng, Bayern Munich
Phillipp Lahm, Bayern Munich

Koke, Atletico Madrid
Miralem Pjanic, AS Roma

Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid

Diego Costa, Atletico Madrid

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paris St Germain

Alexis Sanchez, Barcelona