Some thoughts from Blaine to start the rankings: Here’s to another wacky and wild week of European football hooliganism. This week we saw quite a shakeup in the rankings, most notably Real Madrid’s shocking 4-0 defeat to Alcorcon F.C., a Spanish 4th level football club, in the Spanish Copa del Rey. To give the readers an idea of the magnitude of this upset, many of Alcorcon’s players are part time players who need to work other jobs to supplement income. This is the equivalent of the New York Yankees losing to the Kane County Cougars, at Yankee Stadium. The only thing more audacious than the defeat was Raul’s (Real Madrid’s captain) proclamation that Real Madrid can win the thing on aggregate (meaning they’d have to win by 4-0 or greater in the 2nd leg). Consequently, Madrid fell rather far in the rankings (although obviously not too far, they’re still one of the most, if not the most talented club in the world). Barcelona also had a bit of a down week, as they drew against Osasana in a thoroughly unimpressive way. One club who’s stock went up quite a bit was Arsenal’s, who proved their worth by thrashing Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Saturday, and Arsenal now sits in a 3-way tie for 3rd. Inter Milan has also showed impressive form as of late, winning easily this morning 2-0 at Livorno while playing a squad that was certainly not their A-squad. Inter now sit 7 points clear of 2nd place in Serie A after only 11 games, and appear to be running away with their 5th straight Scudetto. Finally, it may be wise to keep an eye on Napoli, who have been playing very well lately (although they’re not yet in these rankings, I have them as my next club in). They’re currently in 6th place in Serie A, and have an impressive W, L, W, W, Draw vs. AC Milan, W at Juventus as their last 6 matches. That’s all for this week, and remember, when you’re down 2 games to 1 in the World Series, don’t start Joe Blanton over Cliff Lee, it’s a great way to assure that you go down 3 games to 1. Let’s hope for a ridiculous week of Champions League action.
View last week's rankings here.
Biggest Riser: Lyon (18th to 12th)
Biggest Faller: Tottenham Hotspur (11th to 16th)
Team to watch this week: FK Rubin Kazan, who hosts Barcelona in Champions League action, a team they stunned 2-1 in Barcelona two weeks ago. Blaine boldly calls for a 1-1 "ish" draw in this matchup.
Rank Team (Nationality) Points
1. Chelsea (Eng) 50
2. Manchester United (Eng) 48
3. Barcelona (Esp) 46
T4. Arsenal (Eng) 42
T4. Inter Milan (Ita) 42
Tom: Inter Milan has taken over Serie A, with an imposing 7 point lead after a 5-3 win vs Palermo on Thursday and a 2-0 win at Livorno Sunday. In just 11 matches they have outscored their opponents 29-8, for a 1.91 average goal differential per game. A loss at upstart Sampdoria and a draw to defensive-minded Bari are the only blemishes on Inter’s record that includes a 4-0 thrashing of Milan and 5-0 rampage at Genoa. Inter has yet to turn their domestic domination into true European success, but they will have an opportunity to make strides in their group when they travel to Ukraine to take on Dynamo Kyiv on Wednesday. The addition of strikers Diego Milito and Samuel Eto’o (6 and 5 goals respectively in the league) has enabled Inter to remain on top after an active transfer season in which Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Hernan Crespo, among others, exited the club.
T4. Sevilla FC (Esp) 42
7. Real Madrid (Esp) 38
8. Bordeaux (Fra) 34
9. Juventus (Ita) 33
10. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) 31
11. AC Milan (Ita) 29
12. Lyon (Fra) 19
13. Manchester City (Eng) 18
Blaine: After a long run of mediocrity (14th in 2006/2007, 9th in 2007/2008, 10th in 2008/2009, and the like in the years prior), it appears that Manchester City is ready to challenge the Premier League’s “Big 4”. With His Excellency Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan in his first full season in charge, and a squad that has been entirely revamped more or less, City has been playing a very high level of football. City’s most impressive win so far was a 4-2 home victory vs. Arsenal back in early September, but they’ve complimented that with a number of quality wins, as well as a respectable derby loss (if there is such a thing) against Manchester United, where the final score of 4-3 couldn’t come close to describing the quality of the match. With a new group of confident, young, world class footballers, expect to see City see off their recent stretch of relatively bad form (4 straight draws) and stay in the Premiership’s top 4 for the long run.
T14. Fiorentina (Ita) 17
T14. Sampdoria (Ita) 17
16. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) 16
17. CSKA Moscow (Rus) 15
T18. Olympiakos (Gre) 14
T18. Schalke 04 (Ger) 14
20. Hamburg SV (Ger) 13
21. FK Rubin Kazan (Rus) 12
T22. FC Porto (Por) 11
T22. Werder Bremen (Ger) 11
24. Ajax Amsterdam (Ned) 10
Tom: Ajax is coming off of a weekend where they dismantled a formidable Feyenoord squad 5-1. Ajax boasts an obscene differential, outscoring their opponents by an astonishing 2.5 (+30/12 games) goals per game, second only to Benfica in Portugal, who are outscoring their opponents by 2.56 (+23/9 games) goals per game. Ajax has won by three or more goals in 7 games so far and is still managing to lurk in third place in the league behind Twente Enschede and PSV Eindhoven. In Europe, Ajax is tied atop their group in the Europa League, with a trip this Thursday to Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, a match that will be played behind closed doors after crowd trouble in their away match to Timisoara on October 1.
T25. Fenerbahce (Tur) 6
Blaine: One could make the argument that this pick is partially biased due to the fact that I visited Fenerbahçe’s home city this past summer and was quite enamored with it. However it is very clear that Fenerbahçe is the best club in the Turkish Super Lig. After eleven games, they’re five points clear of 2nd, and six and seven points clear of their two biggest rivals (and the two other big powers in Turkish football), Galatasaray S.K. and Beşiktaş J.K, respectively. In addition to their domestic performance, they have played quite well in the UEFA Europa League, with four wins, one loss, and two draws on the season. They currently sit at the top of their group with six points after three games, two points ahead of 2nd place. Their current roster has a number of Turkish national team players, and given their performance thus far in the Europa League and domestic play, I think it’s safe to say that they’re among the top 25 clubs in Europe.
T25. Valencia (Esp) 6
Also Receiving Votes: Braga (Por) 5, Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) 5, PSV Eindhoven (Ned) 4, Benfica (Por) 1, Dynamo Kiev (Ukr) 1
Here is how the voters voted:
| Rank | Tom | Blaine |
| 1 | Chelsea | Chelsea |
| 2 | Manchester United | Manchester United |
| 3 | Barcelona | Barcelona |
| 4 | Inter Milan | Arsenal |
| 5 | Sevilla | Sevilla |
| 6 | Arsenal | Inter Milan |
| 7 | Real Madrid | Real Madrid |
| 8 | Bordeaux | Juventus |
| 9 | Bayer Leverkusen | AC Milan |
| 10 | Lyon | Bordeaux |
| 11 | Juventus | CSKA Moscow |
| 12 | Schalke 04 | Bayer Leverkusen |
| 13 | Hamburg SV | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 14 | AC Milan | FK Rubin Kazan |
| 15 | Manchester City | FC Porto (Really!?!?) |
| 16 | Olympiakos | Fiorentina |
| 17 | Werder Bremen | Sampdoria |
| 18 | Sampdoria | Ajax Amsterdam |
| 19 | Fiorentina | Manchester City |
| 20 | Valencia | Fenerbahce |
| 21 | Braga | Shakhtar Donetsk |
| 22 | PSV Eindhoven | Olympiakos |
| 23 | Tottenham Hotspur | Lyon |
| 24 | Ajax Amsterdam | Werder Bremen |
| 25 | Benfica | Dynamo Kiev |
Next 5 in for Tom, in order from East to West: FK Rubin Kazan, Dynamo Kyiv, Napoli, Twente Enschede, FC Porto
Next 5 in for Blaine, in order from West to East: Braga, Celtic, Napoli, Besiktas, Spartak Moscow
Champions League Schedule
Champions League Schedule
All matches 14:45 ET
Home team listed first
November 3
Group A
Bayern Munich v (8) Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa v (9) Juventus
Group B
Besiktas v VfL Wolfsburg
(2) Manchester United v (17) CSKA Moscow
Group C
(11) AC Milan v (7) Real Madrid
Marseille v FC Zurich
Group D
APOEL Nicosia v (T22) FC Porto
Atletico Madrid v (1) Chelsea
November 4
Group E
(T14)Fiorentina v Debrecen
(12) Lyon v Liverpool
Group F
(21) FK Rubin Kazan vs (3) Barcelona
Dynamo Kiev v (T4) Inter Milan
Group G
(T4) Sevilla FC v VfB Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni v Rangers
Group H
(T4) Arsenal v AZ Alkmaar
Standard Liege v (T18) Olympiakos
Games involving Ranked Teams in the Europa League
November 5
13:00 ET
Dinamo Zagreb v (24) Ajax Amsterdam
Slavia Prague v (T25) Valencia
(20) Hamburg SV v Celtic
15:05 ET
(T25) Fenerbahce v Steaua Bucuresti
(T22) Werder Bremen v Austria Vienna
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