10 Most Exciting Top-of-the-Table Races in World Football Right Now

Just when everyone thought Manchester United had the English Premier League title wrapped up, they re-opened the race themselves by unexpectedly losing to Wigan at the DW Stadium.

Manchester City capitalized on this loss by emphatically defeating West Bromwich Albion four goals to nil. Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and David Silva all got their names on the score sheet.

In light of the up-and-down nature of the EPL title race this season, we thought to ask the following question: Where does the EPL title race's excitement this season rank in comparison to the other leagues in Europe?

Based on the competitiveness (how many teams are in it) and closeness (the point differential between first and second) of the title race, as well as the number of times the lead has changed in the title race, we've ranked Europe's top title races.

Feel free to explain why a certain title race is better than another if you disagree (or agree) with the ordering here.

Because both the United States and Brazil's domestic leagues (MLS and Brasilieiro, respectively) are either just beginning or not in session, they've been omitted from this list. If there's a league you think deserves inclusion on this list, mention it in the comments section.

10. Russian Premier League: Zenit vs. No One?

The Russian Premier League title race has been a bit of a disappointment this season, as no one has been able to challenge Zenit's race to the title.

It's unfortunate because when the league took its midseason break to adjust its schedule to start on time with the rest of Europe next year, CSKA Moscow were only two points behind Zenit.

However, in the second phase of this year's RPL, CSKA have struggled, while Zenit have flourished. CSKA have won one game, drawn four, and lost three, while Zenit have won four and drawn four.

As a result, Zenit have opened up a 11-point gap at the top of the league, and with six league games to go, should clinch the title mathematically in the next two or three games.

At least Anzhi is keeping things interesting. Guus Hiddink's new team has posted a 3-3-2 record in Champions Group play, and only needs to make up a six-point deficit in the next six games to qualify for next year's Champions League.

Alternatively, they're three points removed from qualifying for the Europa League.

9. Turkey's Super Lig: Galatasaray vs. Fenerbahce

First of all, I would like to say that Getty Images is incredibly biased towards Fenerbahce. I couldn't find an image of a single Galatasaray player in six pages of photos from the Galatasaray vs. Fenerbahce match this past March. They were all pictures of Fenerbahce players!

I digress...

The Super Lig has been crazy this year. First of all, Turkish football was forced to deal with the match-fixing scandal that came to light this summer and is still being resolved.

At one point, there was uncertainty about whether the Turkish league would even start with all its members, but it was finally announced that the league would start on September 9th.

And after all the drama, especially at Fenerbahce (with their president Aziz Yildirim jailed and at the center of Turkey's match-fixing scandal), who are the two teams fighting for the title?

Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, the country's two biggest clubs.

It's remarkable really, because Fenerbahce aren't the only team who've overcome great adversity this year. Galatasaray were able to shoot up from an awful eighth place finish last season to first place this season under Turkish genius Fatih Terim.

Like the RPL, the Super Lig has two phases, and after the first phase, Galatasaray were at the top of the table by nine points. However, unlike in the RPL, in the second phase, point totals are halved from what they were in the first phase.

As such, what would normally be considered a unassailable nine point lead has been cut to a more manageable five point deficit for Fenerbahce to make up.

However, the second phase is very short, as it just consists of home and away ties between the top four teams—so Fenerbahce only have six games to make up the deficit.  

Will they be able to do it? I doubt it, as Galatasaray have looked great this season with their new acquisitions and the best Turkish manager in world football history.

Either way, this Super Lig season is not one Turkish football fans will soon forget.

8. Germany's Bundesliga: Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern Munich

Dortmund are another team that gets no love from Getty Images. That's pretty harsh, considering they're set to repeat as Bundesliga champions.

The Bundesliga title race has actually been very exciting to this point. Rewind a month or two, and only five or fewer points separated Borussia Monchengladbach, Schalke, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund at the top of the table.

But down the stretch Bayern Munich and Dortmund were able to separate from the title pretenders, and this Wednesday Dortmund put the proverbial nail in the coffin of Bayern's title ambitions.

Dortmund's last four games of the season are not easy. An away trip to third-place Schalke could lead to dropped points for Dortmund, as could the home game against fourth-place Monchengladbach the following weekend.

But even if Dortmund were to drop points, the packed nature of Bayern Munich's schedule makes it's highly unlikely that Bayern will be able to capitalize.

Dortmund has more time to relax between games, while Jupp Heynckes will have to either field rotated sides against the likes of Real Madrid, or simply give up on the Bundesliga title and focus completely on the Champions League.

Robben had a perfect chance to keep the treble dream alive when he stepped up to take his penalty in the 86th minute. He missed, and now Bayern will have to be content with the pursuit of trophies in their two remaining competitions.

7. Portugal's Premeira Liga: Porto vs. Benfica vs. Braga

Though Portugal's teams haven't been as impressive this year as they were last year, they still gave good representations of themselves in Europe.

Benfica qualified from a Champions League group that included both FC Basel and Manchester United, and beat Zenit in the round of 16 before a resilient and reborn Chelsea knocked them out in the quarterfinals.

Porto struggled in both the Champions League and Europa League, but Sporting CP picked up the slack by impressively beating Manchester City on away goals and progressing to the semifinals of the Europa League.

Portugal's top-quality performances in Europe in recent years are a sign of the progression of Portuguese football, and have allowed Portugal's Premeira Liga to pass France's Ligue 1 as the fifth-best league in the world.

On the domestic front, though there remains a big disparity between the best and worst teams of Portugal, the title race is very competitive.

Initially, it looked like it would be a race between Porto and Benfica, but an incredible 13-game winning streak took Sporting Braga all the way to the top of the Premeira Liga, before losses to Benfica and Porto brought them back to earth.

Even now, Porto are only ahead of Benfica and Braga by four and five points respectively, and games vs Maritimo and Sporting Lisbon mean that Porto still might slip up.

It's a shame that Braga couldn't beat Porto when the pair faced off in Braga—that victory would've kept Braga at the top of the table, and made the title race in Portugal infinitely more interesting.

6. The Netherlands' Eredivisie: Ajax vs. AZ

The Eredivisie has been insane this year.

Until recently, no team has been able to really stamp its dominance on the other teams in the Eredivisie, and even now it remains incredibly tight at the top, with first through sixth separated by only seven points.

Even though Twente, Feyenoord, PSV and Heerenveen are only two to four points removed from AZ, I don't believe any of them really have a chance of threatening Ajax with five games to go.

The gap between them and Ajax is too big, and they are likely to cancel each other out, since many of them face someone else in top six down the stretch.

If AZ can get themselves together fast and perform at their highest level to beat PSV this weekend, they might still have hope of stealing the title from Ajax.

Otherwise, Ajax, on the back of their massive 5-0 win over Heerenveen, probably have this one secured.

5. Ukrainian Premier League: Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Dynamo Kiev

If Ukraine and its clubs were a serious threat on the European level, this title race would've been in the top three, or possibly even number one.

Nevertheless, the fact is that the title race in the Ukrainian Premier League is extremely tight.

Currently, both teams possess the exact same league record and are only separated by Shakhtar's 12-goal advantage in goal differential.

What's more, this past Saturday, Shakhtar recorded a clutch 2-0 victory at home over Dynamo Kiev, ending a 25-game unbeaten streak in the league for Dynamo Kiev.

Looking at the schedules of both teams, Kiev seems to have the advantage as all the remaining teams left to play are mid-table or lower-table teams, with the exception Tavriya Simferopol who will be fighting for a spot in the Europa League.

Shakhtar still have to take on third-place Metalist away from home, as well as Tavriya.

Should Shakhtar slip up in either of those games, Dynamo Kiev is sure to take advantage. If they don't though, this could be a title Shakhtar wins on goal difference.

4. English Premier League: Manchester United vs. Manchester City

Okay, so United's loss cut the deficit back down to five points. That's good enough to re-open the title race, but it doesn't really make things close at the top of the table.

Mancini seemed to echo the same sentiments when he said, "It is finished. Five points is too much."

The hilarious part about Mancini's statement is that, in typical flip-flopper Mancini fashion, Mancini had said "It's not over. In football it's never finished," just earlier that day when asked about City's title chances.

What we do know is that City still has a home derby with Manchester United which they'll be favored to win. If things go according to plan for Mancini, that should cut United's lead at the top of the table by another three points.

But that still leaves City needing to win all four of their remaining games, and needing United to drop two points over the next four games, three of which are home games.

It'll definitely be exciting down the stretch to see if City can overcome some major odds to lift the title, but knowing Sir Alex Ferguson's coolness and poise under pressure, you'd be foolish to put money on City actually upsetting United in the race to the title.

3. Spain's La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Barcelona

We all know the storyline to this one pretty well.

Just six games ago, Real Madrid were 10 points clear of Barcelona, and everyone was sure that they'd win the title, including Barca manager Pep Guardiola.

Three draws later though, and Barca fans have regained hope that they can still win the title, with the gap at the top cut from 10 points to four.

Like Manchester City, Barcelona will benefit from playing Real Madrid at home next weekend. If things go according to plan at the Camp Nou, Real Madrid's once insurmountable lead will be cut to a single point.

From there there will only be three league games left in the season, but Real Madrid could easily drop points at home to Sevilla if they are dealing with aftereffects of losing to Barcelona or with fatigue from playing against Bayern Munich in the middle of the week.

And in that scenario, even a draw would be enough of a slip-up for Barca to climb to the top of the table.

For now, there are a lot of "ifs" and "buts" involved in predicting a La Liga winner, but it's sure to be a thrilling race for these two sides from now to mid-May.

And who knows, we might see them facing off in the Champions League final after the league title is wrapped up as well.

2. France's Ligue 1: Montpellier vs. Paris Saint-Germain

France's Ligue 1 never really gets the respect it deserves as the fifth-best (soon to be sixth) league in Europe, but its title race this season has grabbed the attention of football fans around the world.

Remarkably, Montpellier have kept up their momentum all season long, and can't really be called dark horses anymore. Their 3-1 win over Marseille this Wednesday was just additional proof on the pile of evidence showing that they are the real deal this season.

Paris Saint-Germain were by and far the favorites to win the title this season, but a recent spillage of points has seen Montpellier capitalize and pass them in the table.

Draws against Nice, Caen, Bordeaux and a loss against Nancy have PSG on the cusp of a trophy-less first season with their new owners.

There are still seven games left to go in the season, and I expect Montpellier to drop at least a few more points down the stretch. The question is if Ancelotti can get PSG started on a win streak, or if PSG will continue to stutter to the finish line.

1. Italy's Serie A: Juventus vs. AC Milan

Among the best five leagues in the world, the Serie A title race has definitely be the most exciting to watch.

From early on, it was clear that AC Milan or Juventus would be the club to take home the 2011-12 Serie A title, but the lead in the title race has shifted many times, with neither team holding the lead for longer than eight games.

At present, Juventus' lead in the table is a single point, and this Wednesday that lead was almost lost before Alessandro Del Piero's heroic free kick decided the match.

Juventus have survived the harder matches of their season, winning decisive matches against Inter Milan, Napoli, Fiorentina and Lazio.

But their work is not done, and in their final six games of the season, they face Roma and a number of relegation candidates whose players will be fighting for their lives.

AC Milan have a tough away derby vs. Inter Milan at the end of the season, but otherwise their matches are against mid-table and lower-table opposition. They'll be ready to pounce should Juventus slip up.