European Club Rankings: Man Utd Rise, Monaco Fall, New No. 1 Crowned
When the UEFA Champions League resumes for its knockout stage, you know you've reached the business end of the season. Europe's elite begin to play one another in prestigious two-legged ties, and it makes the European Club Rankings that immediately follow an extremely interesting proposition.
The rankings are now season-long in their measurement of clubs. Previous editions only took recent form into account (spanning four to six weeks), but this version tracks teams throughout 2016-17.
Teams that have lost the fewest games in all competitions naturally rank higher, and Champions League form and presence is used as a tiebreaker for those with similar records.
25-21
1 of 17
25. Inter Milan (-2)
As impressive as Stefano Pioli's tenure has generally been, these are season-long rankings, and Inter are paying the price for former boss Frank de Boer's failures. This weekend's loss to Roma was their 13th of the season!
24. AC Milan (Previously unranked)
Vincenzo Montella's men have recovered from an early-2017 stumble to record back-to-back victories against Fiorentina and Sassuolo. They managed a clean sheet against the latter despite fielding a worrying-looking defence.
23. Atalanta (+2)
Atalanta entered our top 25 last week after putting together a great run of form, and they rewarded our faith with a stunning 2-0 victory over Napoli away from home.
22. OGC Nice (stay)
All hail Mickael Le Bihan! Nice played Montpellier this weekend without two key forwards (Alassane Plea, injured, and Mario Balotelli, suspended) but managed to squeeze out a 2-1 win thanks to Le Bihan's goalscoring exploits off the bench.
21. Tottenham Hotspur (stay)
Spurs looked scintillating in their 4-0 victory over Stoke City at the weekend, but let's not be too quick to forget the shambles that was the Gent fiasco. They're out of Europe now.
20-16
2 of 17
20. Lazio (stay)
Lazio beat Udinese 1-0 this weekend to continue their sneaky, effective season’s work. No one’s talking about how they consistently churn out victories and keep pace toward the top of Serie A.
19. Arsenal (stay)
Arsenal had no fixture to play this weekend, as their date with Southampton was rearranged due to the EFL Cup final.
18. FC Porto (-3)
FC Porto could make lives a lot easier for themselves if their players stopped getting sent off. Alex Telles' mad two minutes wrecked their chances against Juventus, then fellow full-back Maxi Pereira saw red against Boavista at the weekend.
17. Liverpool (-1)
Liverpool take on managerless Leicester City on Monday evening at the King Power Stadium.
16. Manchester United (+1)
United fans were pinching themselves in disbelief after beating Southampton 3-2 in the EFL Cup final on Sunday—goodness knows how much seasonal luck they used up in one afternoon—but the important thing is they won the trophy. That's two for manager Jose Mourinho already.
15. Manchester City
3 of 17
Last Week: 18th
Movement: +3
Many feared for Manchester City when they drew Monaco in the UEFA Champions League round of 16, and to be fair, those fears were well placed. At the time, in December, City were enduring a mini crisis, while their principality opposition were ripping teams apart at will.
But City more than held their own against a confident, free-scoring team last week and, in fact, overcame a wobbly start to win an epic encounter 5-3. The tie is by no means over—a 2-0 loss in Monaco would see them eliminated—but away goals look assured given the state of some of Les Monegasques' defending on Tuesday.
14. Borussia Dortmund
4 of 17
Last Week: 14th
Movement: None
Borussia Dortmund’s 3-0 victory over Freiburg this weekend was overshadowed by another Bundesliga performance of note, but it should not be lost on people how impressive it was.
B/R’s Lars Pollmann was so impressed with the team’s effort he named six players as joint-Man of the Match, a move that underlines just how strong they were up and down the pitch.
They created a ridiculous number of chances, put three of them away and kept a clean sheet—all away from home.
13. AS Roma
5 of 17
Last Week: 13th
Movement: None
Luciano Spalletti rotated his side midweek as the tie against Villarreal had been killed in the first leg. They lost 1-0 at home but still emerged 4-1 victors on aggregate and will now contest Lyon in the UEFA Europa League round of 16.
The Giallorossi then used the weekend’s big game to set the record straight: They beat Inter Milan 3-1 at the San Siro to open up a gap of 11 points between the two sides in the table. Catch Radja Nainggolan’s strike if you can—it’s a whopper.
Roma are now fixed in second place in Serie A, seven behind Juventus in first and five ahead of Napoli in third. It’s widely expected this will be the case come the end of the season, too.
12. Atletico Madrid
6 of 17
Last Week: 12th
Movement: None
Atletico Madrid stay lodged in 12th after emerging from a difficult week in reasonable shape.
There's a definite gulf between themselves and the two-headed monster that is Barcelona and Real Madrid; no one considers Diego Simeone's men to be in the title race this season, so the fact they lost narrowly to La Blaugrana this weekend didn't surprise.
But the UEFA Champions League remains their only potential portal to success, so the fact they scored four in Leverkusen, securing a 4-2 first-leg scoreline in the process, is huge. It keeps them relevant.
11. Napoli
7 of 17
Last Week: 9th
Movement: -2
There’s no shame in losing to Atalanta—they’re a good side—but still, few expected Napoli to be turned over by them on their own patch this weekend.
The Partenopei’s next three fixtures read: Juventus away, in the Coppa Italia semi-finals; then Roma away, in Serie A; and finally Real Madrid at home, in the UEFA Champions League, where they must attempt to overturn a two-goal deficit.
These next two weeks are going to be so, so hard for Maurizio Sarri’s men, and losing at home just before this streak of games ia far from ideal preparation.
10. RB Leipzig
8 of 17
Last Week: 11th
Movement: +1
Timo Werner netted his 13th goal of the season as RB Leipzig emerged as comfortable winners against Koln on Saturday.
Amid the myriad storylines to emanate from the German club’s eye-popping season, Werner’s is one of the most impressive but, as yet, probably hasn’t received the praise it deserves. At age 20, he broke the club’s transfer record in the summer and has put aside an immense amount of pressure to make the difference up top.
Emil Forsberg and Naby Keita have deserved their headlines, but as Werner creeps toward the 20-goal mark, he’ll finally get some of his own, too.
9. Sevilla
9 of 17
Last Week: 10th
Movement: +1
Two 2-1 victories in succession see Sevilla negotiate a difficult week's work with success and move up one spot in the rankings, too.
Their tussle with Leicester City in the UEFA Champions League was labelled by some as a potential banana skin, as the Foxes have tended to spark into form in Europe. While they did get an away goal, they were, in truth, blown away by Los Rojiblancos, who could and should have won the game by five.
With little time to recover, Jorge Sampaoli's men were then presented with an Andalucian derby to contest, and they came from behind to beat Real Betis. Goals from Gabriel Mercado and Vicente Iborra on the day prove this free-flowing side truly do carry 10 goalscoring threats at any one time.
8. Benfica
10 of 17
Last Week: 8th
Movement: None
Benfica won their fifth game in a row (in all competitions) this weekend, seeing off Chaves with ease.
It was a game in which this season's key performers carried on flying, with Nelson Semedo bagging two assists from right-back and Kostas Mitroglou netting twice. The Greek is up to 13 goals from 17 Liga NOS starts now. That's one hell of a record!
Other feel-good stories emerging from the game include: Rafa Silva scoring and Andrija Zivkovic continuing to excel.
7. AS Monaco
11 of 17
Last Week: 6th
Movement: -1
Despite a 2-1 victory over Guingamp at the weekend, Monaco move down one spot due to their defeat to Manchester City in midweek.
We are continually told key moments decide games, and there was evidence of this aplenty during the 5-3 epic these two teams played out. At 2-1, Radamel Falcao had the chance to effectively seal the victory by converting a penalty, but his poor effort, saved by Willy Caballero, galvanised City and spurred them onto a win.
Keeping a clean sheet in the second leg will be nigh on impossible for this defence, so Monaco might need five home goals if they hope to qualify over two legs.
6. Barcelona
12 of 17
Last Week: 7th
Movement: +1
Barcelona's tussle with Atletico Madrid on Sunday was an exceptional watch, with both goalkeepers working overtime to keep their sides locked at 0-0 in the first half, then both defences caving in in the second to yield goals.
Lionel Messi was the man to save Barca's skin late on, converting a slightly scrappy finish after an excellent team move had opened up Atleti's line. Had it not been for Luis Suarez forgetting how to shoot for the afternoon, though, perhaps it wouldn't have fallen to Messi to bail them out late on. Again.
5. Juventus
13 of 17
Last Week: 5th
Movement: None
Juventus had a great week, winning comfortably against FC Porto in the UEFA Champions League and dispensing with Empoli easily in Serie A. But perhaps the best part came when manager Max Allegri and defender Leonardo Bonucci settled their differences.
Per James Whaling of the Mirror, the two have moved on from an argument that, stemming from an incident during the win over Palermo earlier this month, saw Bonucci left out of the 18-man squad for the game against Porto. They did just fine without him, but he is probably their best defender, and he’ll be urgently required pretty soon.
4. Chelsea
14 of 17
Last Week: 3rd
Movement: -1
Despite claiming victory over Swansea City on Saturday, Chelsea move down one spot to make way for a side who achieved an even more impressive result.
Antonio Conte won't be too disheartened should he be reading, though, as it's clear his Blues team are chugging along and doing what's required to see out this Premier League title. The Swans are a stern proposition under Paul Clement, but they were made to look like the relegation candidates they are by a far superior side.
3. Paris Saint-Germain
15 of 17
Last Week: 4th
Movement: +1
So impressive and so strong was Paris Saint-Germain's victory over Marseille, they leapfrog Chelsea in the rankings despite the Blues winning comfortably too.
Five different goalscorers in a 5-1 win is always a novel sight, and that's what Marquinhos, Edinson Cavani, Blaise Matuidi, Lucas Moura and Julian Draxler treated us to. A game that saw two of France's best clubs lock horns turned out to be exceptionally and alarmingly one-sided.
Has Unai Emery turned the corner finally, or is this spurt of form in 2017 a product of the inspired Draxler acquisition? Whatever the reason, it's setting PSG up for a phenomenal second half of the season.
2. Real Madrid
16 of 17
Last Week: 1st
Movement: -1
After months in the top spot, Real Madrid finally relinquish their seat. The midweek loss to Valencia was the straw that broke the camel's back, and not even a thrilling 3-2 victory away at Villarreal this weekend could reverse things.
They have been teetering for a little while—they've suffered three losses this calendar year already—and this week's results, in conjunction with a certain German side's goalscoring exploits, sealed their fate.
1. Bayern Munich
17 of 17
Last Week: 2nd
Movement: +1
Welcome to the top of the pile, Bayern Munich.
Real Madrid’s midweek loss to Valencia paved the way for a potential change at the top of the tree, but it would all depend on how Bayern performed at the weekend. A thumping, emphatic 8-0 win over Hamburg—who were in feel-good mode having earned seven points from their last possible nine—sealed passage from second to first.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men had confirmed victory by half-time in scoring three, but things got messy in the second period: Five more were netted, Robert Lewandowski completed a hat-trick and Bayern made it 44 goals against HSV in their last seven home matches played—an average of 6.3 per game, per WhoScored.com’s Daniel Busch. Astonishing.
All statistics via WhoScored.com
