WCR Top 25 - December 5, 2023

The penultimate matchday in European competitions along with an extremely busy weekend featuring clubs in the rankings facing off with each other didn’t affect the rankings nearly as much as one might have expected, though they were truly fun to watch.

One of those huge, interesting matches of the weekend featured Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen, who last week featured in the WCR Top Ten for the first time ever.  That stay didn’t last long as Dortmund was able to take a point away from the Bundesliga leaders in Leverkusen.  That, along with a victory over AC Milan that secured a spot in the Champions League knockout rounds, allowed Dortmund to climb back in the WCR Top Ten, pushing Bayer Leverkusen back below the fold.

As a matter of fact, BVB was one of only two teams to move up as many as two notches.  The other was Newcastle United, who moved up two notches from 14th to 12th following a week that saw them draw 1-1 at PSG in a match with a dubious hand ball call against the Magpies, and then a 1-0 victory over everybody’s rival Manchester United.

Two clubs dropped three notches in our rankings this week.  One of those was AC Milan, who dropped from 19th to 22nd after the aforementioned loss to Borussia Dortmund.  The other was fellow-Italian club Napoli, who lost to two of the top six clubs in the world this week, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.  Unfortunately for the struggling club from the south of Italy, it only gets mildly easier this week when Napoli travels to Turin to take on Juventus.

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) - Manchester City continued their roll through the Champions League group stage in a match in which they spotted RB Leipzig two goals before coming from behind to win 3-2.  City had no such luck against Spurs on Sunday, never finding that winning goal in a 3-3 draw and dropping to third place in the Premier League.  This is a double matchday week in England and Manchester City has two away matches, taking on Aston Villa on Wednesday and Luton Town on Sunday.

2.  Bayern Munich (Ger) (118 pts) (LW 2) - Bayern scored a goalless draw against FC Copenhagen, which was fine with them, I’m sure since they had already clinched the top spot of Group A of the UEFA Champions League.  Their weekend domestic match had the same number of goals scored as it was canceled due to an overabundance of snow.  Bayern will not play again until Saturday when they will travel to play at Eintracht Frankfurt.

3.  Real Madrid (Esp) (117 pts) (LW 3) - Los Blancos secured the top spot in Group B of the Champions league with a 4-2 victory over Napoli at midweek and then scored a 2-0 victory at home over Granada to maintain their goal differential lead over Girona in Spain’s La Liga.  Next up for the royal club will be an away match against fellow royal club Real Betis on Saturday.

4. Liverpool (Eng) (108 pts) (LW 4) - The Reds remained perfect as the Europa League favorite, crushing LASK 4-0 as they continue to make their way through the Group Stage.  Domestically, Liverpool accomplished what Manchester City couldn’t by scoring a fourth goal for an exciting 4-3 come-from-behind victory over Fulham, moving the port city club into second place in the English premier League.  Like City, Liverpool will face two league opponents on the road this week, at Sheffield United on Wednesday night and at Crystal Palace in the early match on Saturday.

5. Arsenal (Eng) (104 points) (LW 5) - Arsenal clinched first place in the Champions League’s Group B with a 6-0 blowout of French club Lens at midweek.  Domestically, Arsenal remains on top of the Premier League table with a 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton over the weekend.  In the coming week, the Gunners face two Premier League opponents on the road, first at Luton Town on Tuesday night, and then what promises to be a tougher match at Aston Villa on Saturday night.

6.  Inter Milan (Ita) (101 pts) (LW 6) - Inter ended up with a 3-3 draw against Benfica in a match that sets up a battle in Matchday 6 against Real Sociedad for the top spot in Group D of the UEFA Champions League.  Domestically, the current Serie A leaders crushed the defending Serie A champions (Napoli) by a 3-0 score to maintain their domestic league lead.  Inter returns to action Saturday at the San Siro against Udinese.

7.  Barcelona (Esp) (97 points) (LW 7) -Barça picked up a pair of big home victories this week, defeating Porto 2-1 to clinch advancement to the knockout rounds of the Champions League, followed by a 1-0 defeat to Atlético Madrid to improve to third place in the Spanish La Liga table.  Upcoming for Barcelona is another home match, this time on Sunday, against surprising second-place Girona.

8. Atlético Madrid (Esp) (90 pts) (LW 8) - Atletí also booked a spot in the next round of the UEFA Champions League with a 3-0 defeat of Feyenoord at home before their 0-1 loss at Barcelona to drop to fourth place in their own domestic league.  Atlético will be back at home on Saturday for its next La Liga match against Almería.

9.  Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (81 pts) (LW 11) - Dortmund returns to the rankings after defeating AC Milan to clinch a spot in the UCL knockout rounds from the tournament’s Group of Death.  Domestically, Dortmund only picked up a point, but they picked it up from the current Bundesliga leaders and the club they replaced in the WCR Top 10, Bayer Leverkusen.  Coming up this week, Dortmund will play what promises to be an interesting match at VfB Stuttgart in a DFB Pokal match on Wednesday night before another super-Bundesliga match on Saturday, this time at home against RB Leipzig.  

10.  Paris St. Germain (Fra) (78 pts) (LW 9) - PSG was the beneficiary of a phantom hand ball in its 1-1 draw against Newcastle United, which allowed them to be in a position to control their own fate in the Champions League’s Group of Death.  Domestically, PSG was able to shutout minnow Le Havre despite playing with only ten men for virtually the entire match.  PSG will be in action next on Saturday at Parc des Princes against Nantes.

11. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (71 pts) (LW 10)

12. Newcastle United (Eng) (66 pts) (LW 14)

13. RB Leipzig (Ger) (64 pts) (LW 13)

14. Juventus (Ita) (51 pts) (LW 15)

15. Napoli (Ita) (48 pts) (LW 12)

16. Porto (Por) (42 pts) (LW 16)

17. Real Sociedad (Esp)  (41 pts) (LW 17)

18. Aston Villa (Eng) (38 pts) (LW 18)

19. Manchester United (Eng) (34 pts) (LW 20)

20. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) (31.5 pts) (LW 21)

21.  PSV Eindhoven (Ned) (29 pts) (LW 22)

22. AC Milan (Ita) (28 pts) (LW 19)

23. Benfica (Por) (17 pts) (LW 23)

24. Brighton (Eng) (14 pts) (LW 24)

25. Chelsea (Eng) (10 pts) (LW 25)

Also receiving points:  Sporting CP (Por) (9.5), Brentford (Eng) (3), Girona (Esp) (3), Feyenoord (Ned) (2), Atlético Mineiro (Bra) (1.7), West Ham United (Eng) (1).