If we recall the expectations from the season and compare them with what we have now, I think many will agree that Real is performing below expectations, Barcelona is above, and Atletico is at par (slightly behind both main contenders).
It would be logical to assume that Real, having dealt with injuries, will rise to the expected level, Barcelona will not hold outperforming for a long distance and Atletico will continue in its style. But bookmakers think differently and underestimate Real in my opinion.
At the beginning of the season, Madrid gave that feel that they were going to do exceptionally than they have done before and that has been one of the key reasons the expectations from them was raised so high but they have failed the expectations so far, Barcelona who no one really expected much from actually now became the team that is now beating expectations and giving the optimism we looked forward to although they had some set backs recently they aren't doing bad now. Atletico has really been exceptional and commendable with their performance and I think they deserve every accolades they get.
Many people had this feeling about Real Madrid. when they hired Mbappe for their teams I was hoping to see the same good Mbappe we saw before in PSG and that Mbappe could definitely defeat any team by using the perfect attacking skills he had for his team.
Real Madrid has many superstar players but I still don't know why but many players are injured in this team and this is the reason for Real Madrid has this bad performance in some games. However, they were still trying to hire players and feel the place of the players they lost.