The surprise European contenders to watch in all of the big 5 leagues

As we enter the final quarter of the season, newcomers and underdogs around Europe are punching above their weight to compete for continental qualification. Here’s the most interesting team to watch in all of the top 5 leagues between now and the end of the season.

Serie A: Como 🇮🇹 

Como are probably the most interesting team on this list, both in terms of their story and style of play.

They spent two decades in the Italian lower leagues after their bankruptcy in 2004 demoted them to Serie D, having suffered the same fate again in 2016. Their fortunes turned in 2019, when Indonesian billionaire brothers Budi and Bambang Hartono bought the club and became the richest owners in all of Italy. Como quickly reached Serie B, and soon won promotion to Serie A with Cesc Fàbregas in the dugout.

I Lariani were impressive enough in their first season back in the top flight as they placed in the top half of the table, but they have gone a few steps further this term as they are currently fourth (with the third-highest expected points, no less). They have the highest possession average in the league at 61.4%, and have certainly caught the eye with their distinct style of play.

Como’s build-up patterns are most interesting as they have developed different solutions to break high presses, including dropping the right back next to the goalkeeper to take the goal kick before moving up wide to distract the opposition forwards from the right centre-back. In general, they quite often like to press-bait their opponents and hit them in artificial transitions. They also often like to press high with intensity, and have the lowest PPDA in the league.

Como have lately enjoyed a good deal of success against the table-toppers, having drawn with both big Milan clubs besides defeating Juventus and Roma in just the last month. Back in December, though, they suffered a hefty 4-0 defeat to the league leaders, after which their head coach made headlines by saying, “I prefer to lose like this than defend with a 5-4-1 formation.”

The funny thing is that Como have in fact defended in a 5-4-1 in big games lately, starting with two right backs so that one can push up to create their regular structure in possession, but drop back into a well-spread back line without the ball. This approach has been quite successful so far, as they only conceded two goals with an xG tally of 2.53 in those four aforementioned big games.

As far as players go, Nico Paz has remained a standout with 15 goal involvements in the league to his name, but I’ve also really enjoyed watching Máximo Perrone, who operates as their deepest midfielder and offers good defensive cover besides secure on-ground passing and the odd through ball.

Bundesliga: Hoffenheim 🇩🇪 

As far as teams with distinct styles of play go, Hoffenheim stand out in the Bundesliga. They are still playing something closer to the 2010s brand of German football, with a very intense high press and a good deal of directness with the ball at a time when other sides of similar stature are looking to become increasingly compact.

Christian Ilzer’s side have the lowest PPDA and most pressed sequences in the league per Opta Analyst, with even Bayern Munich trailing by a notable margin. They tend to set up in a very player-oriented approach and jump all the way into and around the box, very much disrupting their opponents’ build-up.

This approach hasn’t yielded particularly big upsides for Hoffenheim as they’ve scored four goals from high turnovers and have an average xG conceded tally, but it has helped them get results against the lower-table teams with a good deal of consistency.

They line up in a 3-1-4-2 formation and often look to be quite direct in possession, with the wing backs pushing particularly high up to add width to their attacks on both sides. Opta Analyst’s calculations have them third in the league for direct speed, and they’re also third for goals scored while being fourth in terms of xG created.

With the likes of Leverkusen, Leipzig and Stuttgart faltering, this could well be enough to earn Hoffenheim a return to the Champions League for the first time since one Julian Nagelsmann was in charge. For a side that avoided relegation by three points last season, this has been quite the turnaround.

The architects behind this are the people who broke RB Salzburg’s domination in Austria with Sturm Graz in 2023/24. Managing director of sport Andreas Schicker brought Ilzer along with him in late 2024, and crucially seemed to win a reported power struggle at the club recently. They have set about revitalising the squad with younger talents, including eye-catching Ivorian winger Bazoumana Touré and Kosovar midfielder Leon Avdullahu. At the same time, talents from the club’s own ranks like Fisnik Asllani and Max Moerstedt are also impressing.

La Liga: Villarreal 🇪🇸 

Although some of Villarreal’s recent transfer business has been highly objectionable to say the very least, they remain one of the most entertaining teams to watch on the pitch thanks to their eye-catching style of play under Marcelino.

They line up in a 4-4-2 and move to 3-2-5 shape in possession with the right back tucking in to form a back three while the left back advances. Both when building up deep and passing around the back in the middle third, Villarreal are also happy to bait their opponents into stepping up before quickly hitting them with fast forward play. Their zones of control map is reflective of this approach, as they like to circulate through the middle and hit out wide.

The Yellow Submarine also enjoyed a good deal of success with this approach last term, but on the flip side, they weren’t particularly defensively solid. They scored the third-most goals in the league but were in the bottom half in terms of goals conceded, with a relatively high xG conceded tally as well. This term, though, they have remained on the podium going forward while improving somewhat defensively, thus building an 11-point gap to 5th.

The key difference has been a toned down press and disciplined drop into a deeper defensive block, which both enables Villarreal to better contain opponents and sets them up to use their quick attacking play on the counter.

New signing Alberto Moleiro has been a standout figure in the hybrid left wing role in which he starts out wide and drifts inside, providing a good deal of all-round attacking threat. Having been brought in to replace Atléti-bound Álex Baena for close to a third of the price, he is the team’s top scorer and joint top-provider in the league.

There’s no two ways about it — Villarreal bombed in the Champions League this season as they finished 35th with one point in the league phase. Their defensive frailties were badly exposed in Europe, but their changed ways might well lead to a more successful campaign next season.

Premier League: Brentford 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 

I picked out Brentford for this list before they became the latest victims of Wolves’ farewell tour, but that shouldn’t take away from the main headline: IGOR THIAGO TO THE WORLD CUP! (Hopefully)

The ex-Ludogorets striker has done a fantastic job leading the Bees’ attack almost single-handedly at times this season, scrapping away with some of the strongest defenders in the world to try and make something out of nothing, and posing a consistent goal threat all the while. With 19 league goals, I think it would be fair to say that he alone is the biggest reason for Brentford’s success so far. Carlo Ancelotti, for his part, has rewarded him with a first call-up in the last international window before the big show.

The likes of Dango Ouattara, Kevin Schade and Mikkel Damsgaard have provided decent support at Brentford, while Michael Kayode’s long throws alone make him a valuable player. The Bees have also defended quite decently on the whole while being able to change approaches depending on opposition and game state.

This, coupled with their direct attacking and Igor Thiago’s brilliance up top, has been the key to Brentford staying well in contention for a European spot after 30 matchdays. Given the relegation alarms that many were ringing at the time of Keith Andrews’ appointment (though at least one of us was not getting carried away), this should go down as a very successful season for the Bees regardless of how it ends.

Ligue 1: Rennes 🇫🇷 

Six points currently separate third (the last direct Champions League spot) to seventh in Ligue 1, and the team currently last in that group is Rennes.

Known for their youth academy which has recently produced the likes of Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué and Liverpool-bound Jérémy Jacquet, Les Rouge et Noirs regularly featured in European competitions in the early 2020s, but have finished in the bottom half of the season in each of the last two seasons. Their constant squad turnover is challenging to manage in itself, but their inability to find a long-term coach after Bruno Génésio’s departure in 2023 has made matters worse. Julien Stéphan, Jorge Sampaoli and most recently Habib Beye have all come and gone since then, and the newest man in is Franck Haise.

The 54-year-old Frenchman is himself looking to rebuild his reputation, having led Lens to great heights previously but subsequently enduring a dismal tenure in Nice. He has an interesting squad to work with including a few young talents but more experienced campaigners such as Valentin Rongier, Ludovic Blas, Brice Samba, Breel Embolo and Przemysław Frankowski. Their top-scorer, however, is the relatively unknown Estéban Lepaul, who is tied for second in Ligue 1 with 14 strikes.

Although he is 25 years old, this is the Lyon academy graduate’s first season in Ligue 1 as he has had to prove himself down in France’s lower leagues. He certainly hasn’t looked out of place, using his frame and height to get good shots off with decent consistency, though he is significantly overperforming his xG.

Rennes have a relatively easier run of fixtures to end the season, so Lepaul, Haise and company have a good shot at making their awaited return to Europe.

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