Barcelona beat Real Madrid and Man United to top list of the most tweeted about sports teams

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Twitter has revealed the top 10 most tweeted about sports teams of the year
Number of unique users using club's name, handle or keywords were analysed
Barcelona finished top of the pile, ahead of Real Madrid and Manchester United
Liverpool and Ajax both made it, while NBA outfit LA Lakers snuck into the top 10

Published: 10:07 EDT, 11 December 2019 | Updated: 10:17 EDT, 11 December 2019

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Barcelona and Real Madrid might be battling it out at the top of La Liga, but the Catalan giants have already secured a victory over their rivals on social media.

Twitter has revealed that the Spanish champions have been the most tweeted about sports team in the world during 2019, ahead of Los Blancos in second.

Barca also pipped Manchester United, who finished third, and Liverpool, who finished fourth, to top spot in their annual rundown of the sides who have provoked more discussion than any other.

Lionel Messi and his Barcelona team-mates were the most tweeted about sports club in 2019

Real Madrid finished second in the list of clubs who sparked the most discussion on Twitter

Data from Twitter has revealed the top 10 most discussed teams, with nine of them in football

Using the number of unique users who tweeted about the club using their name, handle or related keywords between January 1 and November 15, Twitter were able to determine which sides sparked the most conversation.

Unsurprisingly, football teams dominate the top 10, with the first nine spots filled by those who play the beautiful game.

Behind Liverpool in fifth place were Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain, while Serie A giants Juventus finished sixth.

Liverpool finished in fourth, one behind Man United despite winning the Champions League

Despite winning the Premier League, Manchester City only got enough people talking to make it into seventh place, one spot ahead of Ajax, who shocked the world with their stunning run to the Champions League semi-finals last season.

Brazilian side Flamengo are a surprise inclusion in ninth spot, given their dramatic Copa Libertadores final win came eight days after cut-off point for data.

The only non-football team to make it into the top 10 are NBA side the Los Angeles Lakers, who benefit from having arguably basketball's biggest name, LeBron James, on their books.