La Liga title chase: Can Atletico mix things up between Barcelona and Real Madrid?

La Liga may host what undisputedly are two of the world’s best players, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but one common remark one may hear about the Spanish league is its predictability.

It offers as good a chance of predicting who’ll win the title come May as easily as one can figure whether a Republican or Democrat will win the next United States presidential election.

“You have a 50-50 chance of picking La Liga’s winner”, is a common jest made on many football forums and inside pubs all around the world.

Indeed, such is Barcelona and Real Madrid’s dominance over the past few decades that it really has become a two-horse race, where the Blaugrana and Los Blancos are way ahead of everyone else, who’s left to fight for the scraps for third place and beyond.

In fact, since the 1970s only a handful of sides have been able to knock the duo off their perch.

Here is a look the lucky teams that denied either the Catalans or the Whites from claiming the Spanish Primera Division title:

• Valencia (in 1971, 2002, and 2004)

• Atlético Madrid (in 1973, 1977, and 1996)

• Real Sociedad (in 1981 and 1982)

• Athletic Bilbao (in 1983 and 1984)

• Deportivo de La Coruña (in 2000)

Furthermore, even fewer of these years when a side other than Barca or Real won La Liga were instances in which either of these two giant Spanish clubs wasn’t in the runners up spot (in 1984, 1996, and 2002).

Largely a duopoly as of late: Barcelona and Real Madrid's long-standing rivalry

SHEER DOMINANCE: A quick glance at the winners and runners-up of La Liga over the past decade highlights the duo's dominance in Spanish football's top flight, with Valencia twice claiming the crown during the early years of the noughties.

And, with the exception of the 2007-2008 campaign when Villarreal claimed the second place by a 10-point lead over Barcelona, and a poor season for the Blaugrana back in 2002-2003 where they earned the sixth place, it has either been the Catalan powerhouse or the capital titans battling it out for who'll be 'El Jefe' and who'll be second-in-command.

Certainly, the "other" Madrid club - the poor one, as some love to call it - would like to change that this season, with their last La Liga triumph coming back in 1996.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo: On another planet, but now someone wants to join them in space

The same can easily be said about the race for the top scorer prize as of late, with it being dominated by the Argentine and the Portuguese, both of whom have set records. CR7 saw his haul of 40 being obliterated by Messi a year later. The latter netted 50 strikes in the 2011-2012 season; additionally the Rosario-born attacker’s half-century of goals was greater than the total output of a slew of La Liga outfits, including Athletic Bilbao, Sevilla, and Espanyol.

A one man team: "FC Lionel Messi" had more goals than 13 other sides during the 2011-2012 season:

*Barcelona was actually second with 114 total goals scored in the 2011-2012 La Liga campaign

The past few years have been dominated by the powerful Messi-Naldo duo, as can be seen below:

This year, however, things are a bit different. The four-time Ballon d’Or winner has so far seen his goal-scoring prowess curtailed by a series of injuries, whilst his rival from Portugal gradually took to the stage in his usual blistering form, with 18 strikes in 16 appearances. But just ahead of him is Atletico Madrid's top marksman Diego Costa, whose 19 goals also see him tied with Liverpool’s Luis Suarez at the head of the continent’s scoring charts.

We've got a new sheriff in town: Hitman Diego Costa leads in La Liga

Like his side, the previously nomadic Brazilian-born, Spanish-naturalised attacker has enjoyed a sort of renaissance so far this term, topping their group in the Champions League and setting themselves up with a round of 16 clash with AC Milan in a few months—a tie that many pundits have them pegged as the favourites to go through to the quarter-finals.

Whilst enjoying success in the Europa League during the past few years, they’ve only returned to Europe’s premier continental competition for the first time since the 2008-2009 season and will certainly be keen to show that they’re ready to compete against some of the biggest names in the footballing world.

What’s even more impressive than their continental form is how they’ve done in the league thus far. With just one loss to their name, they’re still neck-to-neck with Barcelona at the pinnacle of La Liga, and the Catalans’ slightly better superior goal advantage is the only reason why Diego Simone’s men weren’t in top spot heading into the Christmas holiday.

Still, their 46 goals—the third best in the league behind Barcelona and Real Madrid, coupled with just 11 goals conceded—the best among all 20 teams in Spanish football’s top flight are nothing to scoff at, as their city rivals have conceded ten more at the back and currently sit in third place, five points behind the two sides battling for top spot.

But is this sustainable? With Messi set to return next year and C. Ronaldo scoring at will, will the two La Liga giants kick into another gear and leave an ambitious Atletico in the dust? Or will we finally see what's previously been largely a two-horse race turn into a more open contest with another side becoming a serious contender for the coveted La Liga crown come May 2014?

With half the season already completed, it certainly looks to be amongst the most interesting affairs in Spanish football in quite some time.