WCR Top 25 - December 12, 2023

The week leading into the final matchday for all of the big European club competitions saw a lot of the top clubs struggle, with many of them dropping points and a few of them losing their foothold on the top spot in their domestic leagues.

Within the WCR Top Ten this week, there was a lot of flip-flopping.  Real Madrid moved past Bayern Munich (who lost to Frankfurt), Inter Milan moved past Arsenal (who lost to Aston Villa) and Atléico Madrid moved past Barcelona (who lost to Girona).  In our ever changing German rotation at the bottom of the Top Ten, Borussia Dortmund dropped out following losses to VfB Stuttgart (DFB Pokal) and RB Leipzig, only to be replaced by the latter in our Top Ten.

Below the fold, there was some truly significant movement.  Rarely do clubs move five or more notches in a single week, but that happened to two clubs this week, one in each direction.  Aston Villa was the beneficiary after beating two of the top six clubs in the world this week - Manchester City and Arsenal - both by a score of 1-0, which allowed them to move from 18th to 13th in our rankings.  Dropping from 12th to 17th was fellow-English club Newcastle United, who suffered losses to both Everton and Tottenham Hotspur over the course of the week.

For the first time in nearly a month we have a change in the composition of our rankings and, for the first time in several months, it is a club making its debut.  After defeating Barcelona 4-2 to take over first place in the Spanish La Liga, Girona displaced Chelsea and now sits in the 25th and final spot in our list.  That spot will be tested on Monday night with the 25th, 26th (Sporting CP) and 28th (Chelsea) placed clubs are all in action.

All of the rankings are below.  If you don’t like the list, please feel free to check out our methodology page, which includes links to all of the source data we are using. 

1.  Manchester City (Eng) (125 pts) (5 first place votes) (LW 1) - If it wasn’t for all of the problems other top clubs are currently having, Manchester City might not be a unanimous choice for number one any more.  This past week saw them lose 0-1 at Aston Villa and then struggle in a 2-1 victory at Luton Town.  City will play one more away match, Wednesday night against Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade, before returning home to host Crystal Palace on Saturday.

2.  Real Madrid (Esp) (119 pts) (LW 3) - Real Madrid drew 1-1 at Real Betis over the weekend, and as a result, fell out of the first-place spot in La Liga - a spot now belonging to Girona.  For the upcoming week, Real Madrid will travel to Germany to take on Union Berlin on Tuesday night in a match of no consequence to Los Blancos then turn their attention to chasing Girona, first by hosting Villarreal on Sunday.

3.  Bayern Munich (Ger) (112 pts) (LW 2) - I watched the match, at least until it got out of hand, but I still can’t tell you what happened this weekend in Bayern’s shocking 1-5 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt, who had been struggling.  Speaking of struggling, Bayern will face Manchester United on Tuesday night in a UCL battle for a group that Bayern has already won.  Sunday night, the Bavarians will host VfB Stuttgart, with whom they are currently battling for position behind Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga.

4. Liverpool (Eng) (112 pts) (LW 4) - A pair of victories this week over clubs in the bottom half of the Premier League table, 2-0 over Sheffield United and 2-1 over Crystal Palace, have allowed Liverpool to go top of said table for the first time in a few seasons.  There is one more away match to take care of, against Union St.Gilloise in the Europa League Group Stage, before heading home to host struggling archrival Manchester United on Sunday.

5. Inter Milan (Ita) (106 pts) (LW 6) - A 4-0 defeat over Udinese helped to cement Inter Milan’s Serie A lead and move them into the WCR Top Five as one of the few top clubs without a blemish on their record this week.  On Tuesday night coming, Inter will host Real Sociedad hoping for a win, which would leave them as the group winner in the UEFA Champions League.  The nerazzurri will return to action in Serie A on Sunday with a match against Lazio in the nation’s capital.

6.  Arsenal (Eng) (101 points) (LW 5) - A top club fought back to beat Luton Town by one goal in the past week only to lose 0-1 on the road at Aston Villa.  No, I’m not talking about Manchester City again.  That was the same fate as Arsenal’s, whose victory at Luton was of the 4-3 variety.  This week Arsenal plays an interesting if meaningless match against PSV in the Champions League Group Stage finale and will finally return home to Emirates Stadium on Saturday, when they will host Brighton.

7.  Atlético Madrid (Esp) (93.5 pts) (LW 8) - Atletí moved up to third place in La Liga after beating Almeria 2-1 in a match in which Atlêtico looked like world beaters for about twenty minutes and then coasted the rest of the way.  Our boys in red and white will host Lazio on Wednesday night, when a win or draw will see them finish first in their group and a loss will see them finish second.  On Saturday, Atlêti will travel to Bilbao to take on Athletic Club.

8. Barcelona (Esp) (88.5 points) (LW 7) -Barça dropped all the way down to fourth place in La Liga following a 2-4 loss to surprise leader and new WCR Top 25 Club Girona on Sunday night.  Coming up, Barcelona will play at Royal Antwerp on Wednesday night.  A win or draw or a loss and a very strange combination of results will all allow Barcelona to win the group.  They have already clinched advancement.  In La Liga, Saturday night will see Barcelona in Valencia taking on the city’s namesakes.

9.  Paris St. Germain (Fra) (79 pts) (LW 10) - PSG reinforced its lead in France’s Ligue 1 with a 2-1 positive result against Nantes.  Now, all eyes will be on their Wednesday night match at Borussia Dortmund, where a win or a draw combined with an AC Milan win or draw will send PSG to the UCL knockout rounds.  Things won’t be easy for PSG domestically either, playing at Lille on Sunday.

10.  RB Leipzig (Ger) (77 pts) (LW 13) - A different week, a different German club replacing a different German club in the WCR Top Ten.  This week it is RB Leipzig again, who earned the trip back by beating the club they are replacing, Borussia Dortmund, by a 3-2 score over the weekend.  Coming up Leipzig will host Young Boys in what has become a meaningless UCL match for both clubs and then remain at home to host Hoffenheim on Saturday night in Bundesliga play.

11. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (74 pts) (LW 11)

12. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (72 pts) (LW 9) 

13. Aston Villa (Eng) (59.5 pts) (LW 18)

14. Juventus (Ita) (57 pts) (LW 14)

15. Real Sociedad (Esp)  (51.5 pts) (LW 17)

16. Napoli (Ita) (43.5 pts) (LW 15)

17. Newcastle United (Eng) (40.5 pts) (LW 12)

18. Porto (Por) (40 pts) (LW 16)

19. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) (35.5 pts) (LW 20)

20. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) (27 pts) (LW 21)

21.  Manchester United (Eng) (27 pts) (LW 19)

22. AC Milan (Ita) (18.5 pts) (LW 22)

23. Brighton (Eng) (18 pts) (LW 24)

24. Benfica (Por) (17.5 pts) (LW 23)

25. Girona (Esp) (11 pts) (LW NR)

Also receiving points:  Sporting CP (Por) (7.5), Feyenoord (Ned) (5), Chelsea (Eng) (3), Brentford (Eng) (2), West Ham United (Eng) (1).