Opinion

As Major League Soccer’s most decorated team, LA Galaxy are always among the frontrunners tipped to win the MLS Cup at the start of the season. With a new manager and a number of high-profile departures, 2017 was bound to be a difficult year for the club. Yet, nobody expected them to perform quite so poorly.

Following a four year wait, Celtic have reached the final of the Scottish Cup for the first time since they lifted the trophy back in the 2012/13 season. Brendan Rodgers’ side secured their place in the last two by producing an easy 2-0 victory over Old Firm rivals Rangers, with goals from Callum McGregor and Scott Sinclair confirming the victory on Sunday.

The club started the season in remarkable form, losing just one of their opening 11 games, which placed them alongside title contenders Feyenoord, Ajax and PSV Eindhoven in the top four. They managed to maintain their form up until the New Year, but luck hasn’t been on their side so far in 2017.

With just five rounds of fixtures left to play, the 2016/17 Bundesliga campaign is proving to be a lot more entertaining than previous years. While Bayern Munich lead the table with 69 points, their 0-0 bore draw with Bayer Leverkusen last time out has offered second place RB Leipzig a glimmer of hope. Although, to claim their first ever top flight title, they will need to make up eight points over the coming weeks.

With just four fixtures left to play in the Eredivisie, the race for the 2016/17 league title is set to go right down to the wire. As things stand, Feyenoord Rotterdam, who have led the table since the very first week, will be crowned champions for the first time since 1999, but there is still time to lose their place at the top.

Watching Bayern Munich trample over Borussia Dortmund in Saturday’s easy 4-1 victory, it was hard to believe that these two sides met in the final of the 2013 Champions League tournament less than four years ago.

Tottenham made light work of Watford on Saturday afternoon, hammering the Hornets 4-0 at White Hart Lane. Spurs were superb throughout and the score could have been far worse for Walter Mazzarri’s visitors.

This time 12 months ago Radamel Falcao was wasting away on the Chelsea FC bench. 12 months before that he was struggling to make an impact at Manchester United, despite earning upwards of £250,000-a-week in the Premier League.

Crystal Palace have a decent squad of players on paper. However, the Eagles currently have an injury list that would make the local accident and emergency blush.

Orlando City and New York Red Bulls find themselves in a similar position in the Eastern Conference after a month of Major League Soccer action. NY Red Bulls sit in fourth place with seven points, while Orlando are one spot behind them with six.

There may still be eight games left to play, but the Scottish Premiership has already been wrapped up, as an unstoppable Celtic side stormed to the title by, at the very least, a 15 point margin.

Just a few months back, SC Heerenveen seemed to be one of the strongest sides in the Eredivisie, as they keep up the pace against league leaders Feyenoord Rotterdam, PSV Eindhoven and Ajax.

Although there is still a long way to go in the 2016/17 European club football season, the big, rich clubs are already eying up talent for next season.

As expected England recorded a relatively comfortable 2-0 win over Lithuania in World Cup qualifying on Sunday night. The game marked a return to the England side of veteran Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe.

The UEFA qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup have reached the half-way stage and things are starting to take shape in the groups.

Things couldn’t be more different for Major League Soccer’s two debutants following the first three weeks of the 2017 MLS season. Expansion sides Minnesota United FC and Atlanta United FC were expected to produce similar finishes in their first season, but while one sits at the top of the Eastern Conference with six points from three matches, the other sits in last place in the Western Conference with just one point to their name.

Back in November, Bayern Munich’s chances of winning the Champions League for a record 6th time seemed slim.

There has been plenty of transfer talk surrounding the future of Everton and Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku of late. The 23-year-old rejected an offer of a contract extension on Merseyside earlier this week.

It was hard to predict whether Rangers would bounce straight back in their first season back in the Scottish top flight after a number of years spent rebuilding following the financial crisis that came marginally close to destroying the club back in 2012.

For a long while, shock contenders OGC Nice were favourites to lift the Ligue 1 title at the end of the season, after storming into an early lead and maintaining their place as France’s best side throughout the first half of the season.