WCR Top 25 - May 2, 2023

World Club Rankings - Top 25 - May 2, 2023

Last week was weird.  The top three teams in our rankings - Manchester City, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich - were all in second place in their respective domestic leagues.  Not a single leader among them.  That changed this week, even though the top three didn’t (though the order did).  City and Bayern were both able to claim the top rung in the domestic ladder, so at least optically, the WCR Top 25 appears to make a little more sense now.

There were a lot of minor changes in our rankings this week.  The only club moving into our Top Ten, and the only club leaving our Top Ten, involve the clubs that moved the most in our list, so let’s focus on them.  Newcastle United returned to our Top Ten in a week that saw it beat two teams mired in the relegation battle on the road by a combined 7-2 score.  This helped them move up three notches to #9, their highest ever position on this list.  PSG, on the other hand, lost 1-3 at home to mid-table Lorient in a shockingly bad performance.  This helped them drop four spots to #13, their lowest ever spot in these rankings.

Lazio’s foray into the rankings was short-lived as 1-3 defeat to Inter Milan saw them drop out after a two-week visit, making room for Ajax to return even though they lost 2-3 on penalty kicks to PSV Eindhoven in the final of the KNVB Beker over the weekend.

As a note, all of our Top Ten clubs now have links below to extended highlights or condensed games of their matches from last week, so enjoy catching up on anything you missed!

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 had another great week and may have put the Premier League title to bed with a 4-1 victory versus Arsenal at midweek before taking care of business at Craven Cottage with a 2-1 win over Fulham that actually put them in first place.  They will have an opportunity to further secure that lead this week with two matches at home this week, starting with West Ham on Wednesday and continuing with Leeds United on Saturday.

2.  Bayern Munich (Ger) (118 pts) (LW 3) - It took quite a while to get the first goal considering their opponents and where they were playing, but Bayern was able to eventually put away Hertha BSC 2-0 on Sunday.  Coupled with Dortmund’s loss, this put the 625-time (or so it seems) defending Bundesliga champion back in first place with only four matches to go.  The first of these will take place away from home on Saturday when Bayern visits Werder Bremen.

3.  Real Madrid (Esp) (114 pts) (LW 2) -Real played in two historic matches in which the home team won 4-2 this week.  First up, Valentin Castellanos scored four, count them, four goals against Los Blancos for Girona.  The Argentine striker is on loan from New York City FC, but we’ll see how long that lasts as it appears a star has been born.  On the weekend, a first-half hat trick from Karim Benzema allowed Real Madrid to get past Almería 4-2 and saw Benzema move past Mexican legend Hugo Sanchez to become the fourth-highest scorer in La Liga history.  The busy Real Madrid schedule continues this week as they face a tough away test on Tuesday night against Real Sociedad and then head off to Seville to take on Osasuna in the Copa del Rey final on Saturday night.

4. Barcelona (Esp) (105 points) (LW 4) - Barça was a surprise loser at midweek, falling 1-2 to Rayo Vallecano away, but they bounced back in a big way, dominating a short-handed Real Betis club by a 4-0 score at Camp Nou on Saturday, moving the first-place club within eight points of clinching the title.  Barcelona’s only match this week will take place on Tuesday night at home against Osasuna.  They will the weekend off while their opponents will travel to Seville to face Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final.

5.  Liverpool (Eng) (105 pts) (LW 7) -Recently, Liverpool matches have been exciting if they’ve been anything.  In midweek, the Reds gave up an early goal to West Ham only to come back with a goal of their own six minutes later and move on to a 2-1 victory.  Sunday night’s match against Spurs looked a lot like the Spurs' visit to St. James’ Park for the first fifteen minutes, but then Liverpool took their foot off the gas and Tottenham scored one of the most exciting extra time goals in recent memory, just to see Liverpool top it a minute later to score a 4-3 victory.  Liverpool still has a slim chance of making next season’s Champions League, but they need somebody in front of them to stumble and that’s becoming less and less likely.  Still, they have a chance while they’re winning and they have two more matches at Anfield this week in their chase for a UCL spot - Fulham on Wednesday night and then Brentford on Saturday.

6.  Napoli (Ita) (100 pts) (LW 5) - Boulaye Dia’s 84th minute goal to force a 1-1 draw in Napoli’s home match against Salernitana felt like a punch in the gut.  How disappointing was that?  Sure, Napoli will still win the Scudetta, but it would have been so much cooler to win at home with the entire city celebrating on a Sunday afternoon than on a weekday night away at Udine.  Oh, well.  Napoli will surely have its first Serie A title in 33 years by next week’s writing, considering they have two matches this week - first at Udinese on Thursday night and then at home against Fiorentina on Sunday.

7.  Arsenal (Eng) (97 points) (LW 6) - Manchester City has made a lot of very good clubs look like very bad clubs this season, and Arsenal can now be added to the list after their 1-4 loss to the new Premier League leaders in a midweek match.  The good news is that the Gunners have clinched a top four spot and a trip to next season’s UEFA Champions League.  Due to a scheduling quirk, Arsenal’s next match is actually tonight at home against a struggling (to put it mildly) Chelsea club.  On Sunday, in what should be a fantastic match, Arsenal will visit St. James’ Park to take on the Premier League’s happy surprise of the season, Newcastle United.

8. - Atletico Madrid (Esp) (80 pts) (LW 10) - Atlético had few problems this week, getting by Mallorca 3-1, in which the club celebrated their 120th anniversary, and Valladolid 5-2, though the Valladolid match was a lot closer than the final score indicates.  Much like Liverpool’s match with Spurs, Atléti took a quick 3-0 lead and then slowly bled it away (almost).  The big difference in this one was that both of the late goals in the match were scored by the victors.  Atlético only has one match this week, vs Cadíz on Wednesday night.  They get the weekend off to watch the Copa del Rey final, in which they are not involved.

9.  Newcastle United (Eng) (77 pts) (LW 12)It took a while for them to get started, with five of their seven goals coming at the 72nd minute or later, but Newcastle dominated the relegation-battling teams like they needed to this week, beating Everton 4-1 and Southampton 3-1.  As long as they can keep beating the clubs in the lower half of the table, they will finish with a UCL spot.  This week will be quite a bit more challenging however, as the Magpies must take on Arsenal on Sunday, but at least they get to play them at St. James’ Park.  Howay the Lads!!!

10.  Manchester United (Eng) (75 pts) (LW 9) -Manchester slipped a little bit in midweek, giving up a lead after Tottenham spotted them two goals to draw 2-2 with the North London club.  They came back over the weekend, though, with a tough-fought 1-0 victory over a very good Aston Villa club.  In their quest for next season’s UCL, United has two away matches this week, neither of which will be easy.  On Thursday night, they will take on Brighton before going to London to take on West Ham on Sunday.

11.  Inter Milan (Ita) (72 pts) (LW 13)

12.  Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (69 pts) (LW 11)

13.  Paris St. Germain (Fra) (64 pts) (LW 8)

14.  AC Milan (Ita) (56 pts) (LW 14)

15.  Porto (Por) (50 pts) (LW 15)

16.  Benfica (Por) (42 pts) (LW 16)

17.  RB Leipzig (Ger) (41 pts) (LW 19)

18.  Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (36 pts) (LW 20)

19.  Juventus (Ita) (35 pts) (LW 18) 

20. Brighton (Eng) (35 pts) (LW 17)

21.  Chelsea (Eng) (20 pts) (LW 21)

22.  Roma (Ita) (15 pts) (LW 22)

23.  Aston Villa (Eng) (14 pts) (LW 25)

24.  Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) (14 pts) (LW 24)

25.  Ajax (Ned) (10 pts) (LW NR)

Also receiving points:  Palmeiras (Bra) (8.3), Feyenoord (Ned) (7), RB Salzburg (Aut) (7), Lazio (Ita) (6), Freiburg (Ger) (6), Lille (Fra) (6), Zenit St. Petersburg (Rus) (5), PSV Eindhoven (Ned) (4), Celtic (Sco) (3), Sevilla (Esp) (3), Real Sociedad (Esp) (2), Sporting CP (Por) (1),  Brentford (Eng) (1).