WCR Top 25 - November 7, 2023

With the second half of the UCL, UEL and UECL Group Stages getting ready to start, we have some interesting movement in our rankings this week.

For the first time in several weeks, we have a new Top Ten club in our midst.  Paris St.-Germain returns to the Top Ten for the first time in several months, replacing RB Leipzig, who had a particularly bad week.  PSG has been on a roll recently and are currently in first place in the UCL “Group of Death” with a rematch against AC Milan on the horizon.  They have also moved to second place, behind Nice, in France’s Ligue 1 and appear to have finally set things straight after all of the off-season craziness that took place.

RB Leipzig, on the other hand, was knocked out of the DFB Pokal, a tournament in which they were the two-time defending champions and have reached the finals in four of the past five seasons.  A loss to minnow Mainz 05 over the weekend just compounded their troubles.  Leipzig’s three-spot drop was the biggest drop of the week within the rankings.  The biggest move in the opposite direction belonged to Juventus, who jumped four notches this week, from 20th to 16th, largely on the shoulders of domestic league losses by the four clubs they moved past: Porto, Aston Villa, Real Sociedad and AC Milan.

We did have a one-week wonder that came into the rankings last week as Feyenoord departed as quickly as they entered.  They were replaced by Sporting CP, giving Liga Portugal three clubs in our current rankings.  The timing is a shame too because if Feyenoord was still in our rankings, then there would have been at least one ranked club in all sixteen Champions League matches this week.  As it is, we will have to settle for having ranked clubs in fifteen Champions League matches, four Europa League matches and one Conference League match.

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) - Having already been eliminated from the EFL Cup, City had only one match this week, and it wasn’t really much of one at that, with the defending English and European champions defeating Bournemouth by a 6-1 score.  On Tuesday night, Manchester City will host the Swiss club Young Boys and can punch their ticket to the knockout stage of the Champions League with a victory.  Domestically, City will return to action on Sunday when they come to London to take on Chelsea.

2.  Bayern Munich (Ger) (119 pts) (LW 2) - In what could be the biggest shock result of the year so far, Bayern Munich fell to Saarbrücken 1-2 to get knocked out of the DFB Pokal in just the second round.  They bounced back quickly, however, scoring early and often and using a Harry Kane hat trick to upend Borussia Dortmund by a 4-0 score to keep themselves within two points of Bundesliga leader Borussia Dortmund.  Bayern will play at Allianz twice this week, first against FC Copenhagen in a UCL match in which a victory will guarantee that the Bavarians advance to the knockout stage of the Champions League.  In German Bundesliga action, Bayern will host Heidenheim on Saturday.

3.  Real Madrid (Esp) (115 pts) (LW 3) -Real Madrid could manage no more than a 0-0 draw with Rayo Vallecano at home, causing them to drop out of the top spot in La Liga, to be replaced by surprising (shocking?) Girona?  Real Madrid will play two more matches at the Bernabeu in the week ahead, first against Portugal’s Braga on Wednesday night in the Champions League, and then hosting Valencia on Saturday night in their return to domestic league action. 

4. Liverpool (Eng) (110 pts) (LW 4) - Liverpool became one of the few top teams in England to advance to the quarterfinals of this year’s EFL Cup with a 2-1 victory at Bournemouth at midweek.  The Reds were still away where they were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw at Luton Town on a late goal by beleaguered Luis Diaz to remain in third place in Europe’s best league.  Liverpool will be on the road again on Thursday night at Toulouse, where they will try to remain perfect and clinch a spot in the UEFA Europa League’s knockout round before finally getting another match at Anfield on Sunday, this time against Brentford.

5. Inter Milan (Ita) (104 pts) (LW 6) - Inter Milan’s 2-1 victory at a very tough Atalanta club assured them the top spot in Serie A for yet another week.  On Wednesday night, Inter will be at RB Salzburg, where a victory will assure them another trip to the Champions League knockout rounds.  On Sunday night, they will return to the San Siro to host Serie A middling club Frosinone.

6.   Arsenal (Eng) (99 points) (LW 5) - It was a rough week for this group of North London boys, being eliminated from the EFL Cup in a 1-2 loss at West Ham and then following that up with a 0-1 road loss at St. James’ Park to Newcastle United in their return to Premier League action.  The group leading Gunners will host Sevilla on Wednesday as they try to help the Spanish club back to the UEFA Europa League, which they will probably win as usual.  In the Premier League, Arsenal’s task gets a little easier as they host Burnley on Saturday afternoon/evening.

7.  Barcelona (Esp) (98 points) (LW 7) -Barça leapfrogged Atlético Madrid with a 1-0 victory at Real Sociedad thanks to an extra time (VAR time) goal by Ronald Araujo, moving into La Liga’s show position.  La Blaugrana will look to continue the roll they are on in the Champions League Tuesday night when they travel to Ukraine to play Shakhtar Donetsk.  They will return “home” afterwards to host Deportes Alavés on Sunday.

8. Atlético Madrid (Esp) (85 pts) (LW 8) - Atléti were surprise losers in domestic league action, falling to fourth place in La Liga following a 1-2 away loss to Las Palmas.  They will look to bounce back at home against Celtic on Tuesday night as they battle for position in what appears to be a three-horse race in UCL Group E with Lazio and Feyenoord.  Los Colchoneros will remain at home to battle Villarreal in their next league match on Sunday night.

9.  Napoli (Ita) (82 pts) (LW 10) - Napoli improved to fourth place in the Italian Serie A with a 2-0 away victory over Salernitana over the weekend.  In Champions League action this week, Napoli will look to solidify its second place group stage position at home against German club Union Berlin on Wednesday night.  Early Sunday afternoon, Napoli will return to action in its domestic league when it hosts Empoli.

10.  Paris St. Germain (Fra) (77 pts) (LW 12) - After several months, PSG returns to the WCR Top Ten after winning its fourth straight Ligue 1 match, this time in 3-0 fashion at home against Montpellier.  On Tuesday night this week, the UCL Group Stage first place will visit the group’s last place club, AC Milan at the San Siro before heading back to France to play Stade Reims on Saturday afternoon/evening.

11. Newcastle United (Eng) (71 pts) (LW 14)

12. RB Leipzig (Ger) (64 pts) (LW 9) 

13. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (62 pts) (LW 11)

14. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (59 pts) (LW 16)

15. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) (58 pts) (LW 13)

16. Juventus (Ita) (47 pts) (LW 20)

17. Porto (Por) (45 pts) (LW 15)

18. Manchester United (Eng) (36 pts) (LW 21)

19. Real Sociedad (Esp)  (31 pts) (LW 17)

20. Aston Villa (Eng) (28.5 pts) (LW 18)

21.  AC Milan (Ita) (28 pts) (LW 19)

22. Benfica (Por) (23 pts) (LW 22)

23. Brighton (Eng) (14 pts) (LW 23)

24. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) (11 pts) (LW 24)

25. Sporting CP (Por) (9 pts) (LW NR) 

Also receiving points:   Chelsea (Eng) (7.5), Feyenoord (Ned) (7), Brentford (Eng) (6), Atalanta (Ita) (3), Lazio (Ita) (1).