It's one of the odd things at the top of European football this year: very few clubs (or their fan bases) can look at their current situation, conclude the future is bright and reach for the shades.
League-leading Arsenal and Napoli? Sure, no question about it. Stick them at the top of the list.
Maybe a notch below them, Manchester City: they may not win the league this year (unlike four of the past five seasons) and there's a storm cloud potentially gathering with the Premier League investigation, but they've added a goal-scoring machine in Erling Haaland, Pep Guardiola is happy and sticking around and they're favourites to win both the FA Cup and the Champions League. Throw in Borussia Dortmund as well: the Champions League exit was disappointing, but they're alive in the DFB-Pokal, they're top of the Bundesliga and they're playing well.
I think you can broadly include Manchester United in that group, too: Erik ten Hag has been a hit, they're considerably better than last season, they're likely to qualify for the Champions League, they've won a domestic trophy with the Carabao Cup (and could win another, the FA Cup) and they're favourites to win the Europa League.
The one source of anxiety may be the potential sale of all or part of the club and whether the investment the club needs in Old Trafford and the squad materializes. (One Manchester United-supporting friend, albeit a notorious worry-wart, is concerned that "we'll end up with fewer Glazers and even more debt.")
Beyond that? There's only so much to cheer, and even the likelihood of winning a title doesn't necessarily turn a frown upside down.
Barcelona are headed for LaLiga glory and may also win the Copa del Rey. And they're likely to escape sanction over the €7 million paid to the former vice president of the refereeing committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira -- they should escape in the sporting sphere because of the statute of limitations while in the criminal sphere, it's because prosecutors haven't found evidence the funds were used to corrupt match officials. But the stain of the case remains -- if only for the previous administration's profligacy -- as does the damage from getting knocked out of the Champions League. More importantly, club president Joan Laporta's "economic levers" leave a major question mark over the club's future.
Paris Saint-Germain? Sure, they'll likely win the French title again, but they suffered premature exits from the French Cup and the Champions League with the highest wage bill in Europe. Lionel Messi becomes a free agent in July, nobody seems to like manager Christophe Galtier, president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is being investigated for an alleged role in a "kidnapping and torture plot," the Qatari owners have put a chunk of the club (maybe more) up for sale and, despite his contract, nobody knows where Kylian Mbappe will turn up next year.
Bayern Munich could yet win the treble, great! They've also never been second in the table at this stage of the season over the past decade, and their projected points total of 71 would be their lowest mark in 12 years. They also lost their iconic captain (Manuel Neuer) to a needless season-ending ski injury, and he's probably doubly grumpy because his contract expires at the end of next season, there's no sign of an extension until he gets fit and his goalkeeping coach Toni Tapalovic -- who was also best man at his wedding -- was summarily fired and accused of leaking information to the media.
And by the way, even now that Tapalovic is gone, coach Julian Nagelsmann is complaining about a "mole in the camp" leaking documents to national newspapers. Oh, and with Robert Lewandowski gone, the only legitimate centre-forward on their books is Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who turns 34 this week and is, well, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
