Barcelona seems to be underestimated by weaker clubs because they have recently experienced less than satisfactory results, unlike Madrid who were defeated by strong clubs, but looking at the current situation, we still can't guess who will be the league champion because Madrid and Barcelona have not widened the gap and there are still many matches that have not been played.
Not everyone also judges it like that for both teams, especially since the points gap is still quite close so that both could overtake each other for first place in the current La Liga standings after several upcoming matches. And even Atletico Madrid could also disrupt the competition between the two teams this season because Atletico is also not too far from the two teams at this time.
Overall strength Barcelona and Real Madrid are quite strong this season, it's just that both teams are experiencing many problems that make it difficult for them to maintain consistent performance, so because of that, the competition will be much more balanced.
For now, the points difference between the two is not much different, so I don't think there is a favorite here, in fact I think the competition between these two rivals will be much fiercer than last season.
And for the possibility of Atletico Madrid taking advantage when Barcelona and Real Madrid are inconsistent, of course it is very large, but the Atletico Madrid team must also be able to maintain consistent performance and be able to appear stronger.
If we look at the strength, I think Atletico Madrid this season is not as good as Barcelona or Real Madrid.