European Club Power Rankings After January 26-28 Matches
A peculiar week's football leads to a slightly peculiar edition of our European Club Rankings. With so many top teams either losing, failing to win or simply struggling to hold things together, some teams are fortunate to move up, while others stand still against all odds.
The rankings are a season-long measurement of clubs, tracking teams throughout 2017/18 and taking into account results from all competitions.
Sides that have lost the fewest games naturally rank higher—though the strength of opposition met in a loss is considered—and both UEFA Champions League form and presence are used as tiebreakers for those with similar records. Teams that gather big wins against strong opposition get a boost.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
20. Schalke 04 (New!)
Re-entering the rankings is Schalke, whose win away to Stuttgart sees them replace Monaco.
19. Roma (-1)
How can Roma be considering letting Edin Dzeko leave the club this window when, even with him in the setup, the goals are drying up as they are? All of a sudden, Eusebio Di Francesco's Giallorossi remind too closely of Rudi Garcia's.
18. Bayer Leverkusen (+2)
Outside of Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen are the hot team in Germany right now. Powered by Leon Bailey golazos, second place in the Bundesliga doesn't flatter the Werkself.
17. FC Porto (Stay)
Bad results have been rare for FCP this season, but one came along last week as they were dumped out of the Taca da Liga semi-finals on penalties by Sporting CP.
16. Lyon (-1)
Lyon beat Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco in successive matches last week...only to then fall 3-1 to 10-man Bordeaux. Sure, they were battling a "new manager bounce," but that's a regrettable way to curtail some incredible momentum.
15. Valencia (+1)
Valencia lose 4-1 to Real Madrid...and are rewarded with a move up? Sometimes the rankings throw up quirky results like this. Los Che were poor, but others were even poorer.
14. Tottenham (-2)
Tottenham remain stoically committed to being maddeningly unpredictable, with their two most recent results—somewhat lifeless draws vs. Southampton and Newport County(!)—creating a tinge of unrest among a nervous fanbase.
13. Lazio (Stay)
Lazio's winning run was halted by AC Milan this weekend, with the Rossoneri handing Simone Inzaghi just his fourth defeat of the season. They may not be rated among the finest in Europe this year, but that's a mighty impressive campaign's work to date.
12. Inter Milan (+2)
Another odd one. Inter, on a run of four straight draws and having most recently tied with SPAL, move up two? Sometimes simply avoiding defeat is enough to keep you moving in the right direction.
11. Real Madrid (-1)
Real Madrid's thrilling 4-1 victory over Valencia brought them to within two points of third in La Liga. If only it hadn't been in response to a two-legged defeat to Leganes in the Copa del Rey...
10. Chelsea (+1)
Chelsea move up solely because their loss (to Arsenal) was significantly less embarrassing than Real Madrid's (to a Liga minnow). Dire weeks force these conclusions at times.
At least they put Newcastle United away with relative ease this weekend, progressing in the FA Cup in the process. It sounds an easy game on paper, but given the Magpies' history of causing an upset in this fixture, more than a few sighs of relief were ushered at the final whistle.
9. Liverpool (-2)
You beat Manchester City, handing them their first Premier League loss of the season, then follow it up with two consecutive losses to Swansea City and West Bromwich Albion? No wonder Jurgen Klopp's struggling to stay calm.
8. Atletico Madrid (+1)
With La Liga already gone, the Champions League up in smoke and the Europa League a true gauntlet, the Copa del Rey felt like the only reasonable chance of silverware for Atletico this season.
Well, now that's gone too, thanks to an aggregate loss to Sevilla. They rebounded with a 3-0 win over Las Palmas, keeping their league form in fine fettle, but their season now feels a third emptier.
7. Manchester United (+1)
With so many top teams experiencing difficulties this past week—particularly in England—Jose Mourinho will have been rather pleased to see his United side sail past Yeovil in the FA Cup.
Alexis Sanchez made his first appearance in a Red Devils shirt and was named Man of the Match, grabbing an assist and generally sparkling in a thumping 4-0 win.
6. Napoli (Stay)
The goals are flowing for Dries Mertens. That's good news for Napoli, and very, very bad news for the rest of Serie A.
The Belgian ended a long league drought last week by netting against Atalanta, then followed that up with two more in this weekend's win over Bologna.
5. Juventus (Stay)
Another game, another win, another clean sheet. They might still be trailing Napoli in the league standings, but Juventus have a stormtrooper-like quality to them at the moment.
One goal conceded in 14 games is a ridiculous record, and when you regularly put attackers like Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala in a position whereby they just need to muster one between them to garner three points, you're going to enjoy a hell of a lot of success.
4. Paris Saint-Germain (Stay)
PSG responded to their last-minute loss to Lyon last week by scoring eight across their next two games—four in each—with Guingamp and Montpellier the unfortunate recipients of the backlash.
The return of Neymar helped Les Parisiens set a dominant tone, but there's a story in Giovani Lo Celso's rise to prominence that you'd be wise not to ignore.
3. Bayern Munich (Stay)
Bayern survived quite the scare this weekend, coming back from 2-0 down to beat Hoffenheim 5-2.
The away side raced into a two-goal lead, with Bayern's own Serge Gnabry (loaned out for the season) missing a penalty and scoring. Die Roten came roaring back, though, with Sandro Wagner stepping off the bench to score his first goal for his new club...against the one he's just signed from!
2. Manchester City (Stay)
Two matches, two wins, two cup progressions sealed. It was, by and large, a good week's work for Manchester City.
Booking a Carabao Cup final date with Arsenal—and with it, a chance to gain revenge on them for last season's result—should be cause for celebration, but a horrible challenge from Joe Bennett on Leroy Sane during the win over Cardiff City has placed a shadow over things.
The German could be out for a month, per BBC Sport.
1. Barcelona (Stay)
It's been a gentle introduction to life at Barcelona for new signing Philippe Coutinho: A debut off the bench against Espanyol midweek, followed by a 66-minute appearance from the start against Deportivo Alaves.
Barca won both games by either a goal or two but created an awful lot of chances; on another day, in both cases, the scoreboard would have been spiralling.
All statistics via WhoScored.com
