Blaine: Another week, another round of unforgettable Champions League matches. This week saw a batch of relatively expected results, but with a few upsets thrown in for good measure. The most interesting result in the opinion of yours truly was Bayern Munich 0-2 Bordeaux. This match more or less proved that Bordeaux is a legitimate European power and they their early run of good form wasn’t really a fluke. While Bayern is far from the Bayern of years’ past, a win at Allianz Arena is always impressive. FK Rubin Kazan continued their magical Champions League run with a draw vs. Barcelona (oddsmakers had Kazan as a +540), and have consequently moved up on my (and presumably Tom’s) rankings. Kazan’s draw however, while impressive, spoke volumes about Barca’s current form, which has them in the midst of a series of thoroughly unimpressive results. Arsenal continued to be a buzz saw against all of their opponents, with back to back 4-1 wins this week over AZ Alkmaar at home and Wolverhampton Wanderers on the road. It would appear that Arsene Wenger has managed to turn his young group of Gunners into a formidable challenge for European and English silverware. The biggest match of the week was undoubtedly Chelsea vs. Manchester United this morning, which ended with a 1-0 win by the Blues at Stamford Bridge. Despite the fact that United played very impressively (I was unable to watch the game due to the fact that I was driving back from Alabama, but I did read in a match report that United seemed to outplay Chelsea for large stretches of the game), Chelsea was able to pull off the win. Another club that continues to impress is AC Milan, who drew vs. Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek then got a fine win away against Lazio this weekend. Fiorentina also appears to have found their groove, as they won 5-2 midweek vs. Debrecen, then scored a 1-0 win at Udinese this morning. This week’s award for most ridiculous match must be Lyon’s 5-5 draw with Marseilles, where 5 goals were scored in the 79th minute or later. Unfortunately I was unable to watch this match given the fact that I was somewhere in Tennessee or Kentucky during it, but it’s not often that one sees a 5-5 draw, especially one with such a thrilling finish. At any rate, this week is a bit of a down week for football with the absence of Champions League matches, but let’s all make the best of it and try and watch some cricket or something.
Rank Team (Nationality) Points
1. Chelsea (Eng) 50
2. Barcelona (Esp) 47
3. Arsenal (Eng) 46
T4. Inter Milan (Ita) 43
T4. Manchester United (Eng) 43
Tom: A mid-week draw to CSKA Moscow in an admittedly unimportant match, and a tough loss to Chelsea drops United a bit in the rankings. Manchester United has yet to truly impress this season as they have yet to have their key players hit top form (and fitness) at the same time, but an international break and a schedule that is easy as pie until a January 30 meeting with Arsenal should help them pull it all back together and get to the top of the table if that is where they are going to end up come May. United will only play one team that is currently higher than 11th in the Premier League table until then, when they host 5th place Aston Villa on December 12.
6. Sevilla FC (Esp) 41
T7. AC Milan (Ita) 36
T7. Real Madrid (Esp) 36
9. Juventus (Ita) 35
10. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) 32
11. Bordeaux (Fra) 27
12. Fiorentina (Ita) 23
Blaine: After a miserable October that consisted of 1 win, 2 draws, and 2 losses, Fiorentina is in the midst of an undefeated, untied November, with 3 wins in 3 matches. With an attack led by a healthy Alberto Gilardino and a (presumably) drug-free Adrian Mutu, Fiorentina find themselves in 4th place in Serie A, only 1 point behind 3rd and 3 points behind 2nd. With a fairly easy home match this week vs. Parma, Fiorentina can rest most of their starters in anticipation of a huge match against Inter Milan at the San Siro in 2 weeks. Should Fiorentina be able to pull off the win there, it will put them in legitimate contention for a Scudetto.
13. Lyon (Fra) 22
Blaine: With the departure of Juninho and Karim Benzema this past summer, my expectations for Lyon were quite low, even in the relatively uncompetitive French Ligue 1. They’ve looked extremely good so far though, with their marquee result being a 2-1 win vs. Liverpool a few weeks back, and a respectable 1-1 draw with them earlier this week. They also beat Fiorentina 1-0 in the Champions League back in September, and have simply looked really impressive in both European and domestic play. With 24 points from 12 games so far in Ligue 1, Lyon finds themselves in 2nd place, 1 point behind Bordeaux. Lyon and Bordeaux are yet to play this season, and their 2 matches may be what decide the champion of Ligue 1.
14. FK Rubin Kazan (Rus) 21
T15. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) 17
T15.Werder Bremen (Ger) 17
T17. CSKA Moscow (Rus) 16
T17. Twente Enschede (Ned) 16
Tom: Me and Blaine both have vaulted the Dutch teams in our rankings this week. I was fortunate enough to watch the Feyenoord Rotterdam-AZ Alkmaar match this morning and the Dutch play attractive, attacking football. Decent European performances and good domestic form will see some of these teams keeping a permanent spot in these rankings.
19. Manchester City (Eng) 14
20. Schalke 04 (Ger) 11
21. Hamburg SV (Ger) 10
T22. Fenerbahce (Tur) 9
T22. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) 9
T22. Valencia (Esp) 9
25. Ajax Amsterdam (Ned) 6
Also Receiving Votes: PSV Eindhoven (Ned) 5, Benfica (Por) 3, Marseille (Fra) 3, Sampdoria (Ita) 2, Genoa (Ita) 1
Here is how the voters voted:
| Rank | Tom | Blaine |
| 1 | Chelsea | Chelsea |
| 2 | Barcelona | Arsenal |
| 3 | Inter Milan | Barcelona |
| 4 | Arsenal | Manchester United |
| 5 | Manchester United | Sevilla |
| 6 | Sevilla | Inter Milan |
| 7 | Real Madrid | Juventus |
| 8 | AC Milan | AC Milan |
| 9 | Bayer Leverkusen | Real Madrid |
| 10 | Juventus | CSKA Moscow |
| 11 | Bordeaux | Bayer Leverkusen |
| 12 | Lyon | FK Rubin Kazan |
| 13 | Werder Bremen | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 14 | Fiorentina | Bordeaux |
| 15 | Schalke 04 | Fiorentina |
| 16 | Hamburg SV | Twente Enschede |
| 17 | Valencia | Shakhtar Donetsk |
| 18 | Manchester City | Lyon |
| 19 | FK Rubin Kazan | Fenerbahce |
| 20 | Twente Enschede | Manchester City |
| 21 | PSV Eindhoven | Ajax Amsterdam |
| 22 | Tottenham Hotspur | Werder Bremen |
| 23 | Benfica | Marseille |
| 24 | Fenerbahce | Sampdoria |
| 25 | Ajax Amsterdam | Genoa |
Next 5 in for Tom, in order from shortest to longest name: Braga, Marseille, Sampdoria, Olympiakos, Dynamo Kyiv
Next 5 in for Blaine, in reverse alphabetical order: Napoli, Dynamo Kiev, Celtic, Braga, Bari
Week Preview
Virtually no soccer this week. World Cup Playoffs this weekend which will be HUGE!!!! This week we do have the second leg of the Spanish Copa del Rey 4th round, meaning we get to see if Real Madrid can dig out of their stunning 4 goal hole they dug themselves in against Alcorcon. Cheers!
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