Leicester won the Premier League last season in what was described by many as “a script only the Premier League can write”. It’s an opinion that carries a lot of weight as some sort of monopolistic dominance has been established in Europe’s top leagues over the past few years.
“This is football anything can happen” is a phrase which seems only to apply to the Premier League and Elite cup competitions such as the Champions League with the rest of Europe’s big leagues having a more conventional system. But this season is turning out to be a special one with uprisings being mounted in leagues where you’d least expect such an occurrence.
Leicester’s title win will probably not be repeated anytime soon, but it taught us something, or rather it reintroduced us to the fact that anything is possible in the beautiful game and that unpredictability makes football more enjoyable.
Let’s have a look at how the proceedings in the German top-flight are panning out;
The Bundesliga
Bayern’s unprecedented dominance in the Bundesliga is as respectable as it is scary. Their closest rivals in the past five seasons have been Dortmund, with Wolfsburg finishing second on one occasion.
But so far, there has been a refreshing change in the proceedings in the German top flight. Bayern are in pole position, but not in a way they’d be too pleased with.
Dortmund’s credentials are in doubt as Thomas Tuchel’s side sits fifth in the league standings, but with Dortmund in 5th place who’s aiming to give the Bavarians a run for their money? Well, none other than the “Bayernliga’s” most hated side, RB Leipzig.
Despite having a success story that’s supposed to resonate with the Bundesliga and beyond, Leipzig have endured massive amounts of criticism on their way to the top.
The Bundesliga’s second-placed side are somewhat sailing towards the wind regarding everything German football despises – well they started from the bottom now they’re here so it’s hard to imagine they can be thrown off balance due to little scrutiny.
Most of Leipzig’s critics have claimed that the club is more about business than football due to Red Bull’s modus operandi.
Red Bull bought RB Leipzig, formerly known as SSV Markranstadt in 2009 – the energy drink company put a plan in place to get their latest football franchise into the Bundesliga in line with the part-fan ownership system prevalent in Germany. Their plan involved the appointment of Ralf Rangnick and of course the investment of massive funds into the club’s facilities.
So to cut the story short, Leipzig has gained three successive promotions since 2013, and here they are ready to give Bayern a run for their money – love ’em or hate ’em they’re here to stay and could be the team that finally beats Ancelotti’s men to the title.
Like Bayern, Leipzig is unbeaten in the Bundesliga having won seven and drawn three out of ten games played thus far.
It would be delusional to think that Leipzig can’t win the Bundesliga this season. Bayern have a different feel to them, and thus the newcomers can overtake one of European football’s most dominant sides.
Next season, though, Bayern’s chances of winning the league will be a tad slimmer than usual as Leipzig will probably sign some big players to match Bayern’s firepower and Dortmund will approach the league with an “enough is enough” attitude.
As the storyline suggests this campaign’s events will set the ball rolling for another team to be potentially crowned champions next season, that doesn’t mean it can’t happen this term, though.
