Ranking the Top 10 European Football Teams

Published by William | Filed under Football (aka soccer), Miscellaneous

Until someone takes them down, Barcelona still reigns supreme.

While I was taking a leisurely gander around ESPN Soccernet the other night, I came across this lovely little piece by a Zach Benabid, ranking the top 10 clubs in Europe. Here’s what he had:


1. Chelsea
2. Barcelona
3. AC Milan
4. Arsenal
5. Real Madrid
6. Manchester United
7. Inter Milan
8. Bordeaux
9. Valencia
10. Bayern Munich


Ok. Take a deep breath. If your anything like me, your probably wondering how in god’s name is this joker employed by ESPN? Other than the possibility that he may be one of those “controversy stirring” types, his rankings at first glance make almost no sense whatsoever. Luckily he did disclaim his thoughts beforehand asking the question, “If I were a manager, which clubs would I least like to face right now?” So I’m guessing he was going off the runs teams were on as opposed to who are actually Europe’s best clubs. The other thing that I should tell you is that he posted this on January 22 which was about 10 days ago. As we all know, there have been some big matches in the past week and a half that have shed quite a bit of light on where many league title races are going. I.e. Man U-Arsenal, Man U-Man City, Inter-AC Milan to name a few. So really I should have taken the chance to belittle this chap long ago but what’s done is done and I’ll do now anyways for good measure. With that being said, here is my Top 10 and why. Feel free to chime in on your own thoughts.


1. Barcelona: Until anyone takes them off the throne, they have to be considered a perennial number 1, no questions asked. They won 6 titles last year including the Champions League, La Liga, and Copa del Rey and have already won both the UEFA Supercup and FIFA Club World Cup titles this year. The only title that is no longer theirs to defend is the Copa del Rey after being knocked out by Sevilla 2-2 on away goals. They are well on their way to winning another La Liga title as they currently sit 5 points ahead of Real Madrid. They advanced to the knockout stage of the Champions League in what was arguably the hardest group while battling some key injuries. Bottomline, they have the depth and the experience do just as much damage as they did last year.


2. Inter Milan: The 4-time defending Scudetto champions reaffirmed why they are by far the best club in Italy, as well as one of the best in Europe, in their 2-0 handling of city rivals AC Milan, bringing their season aggregate score in the Milan Derby to a whopping 6-0. Jesus Christo. If that’s the best we can expect from the second best team in Italy, then Inter can go ahead and engrave their name on their fifth straight Serie A title. But our buddy Zach over at Espn had AC Milan at 3 and Inter at 7. Good call there. Furthermore, Inter did it with 9 men (and Samuel Eto’o away in Africa) while Milan was at full strength with a hot Ronaldinho and Beckham. I rest my case.


3. Chelsea: Zach had the Blues at no. 1 and honestly, I don’t have much of a problem with that other than the fact that Barca are still the champs. Inter for that matter too. I just feel as long as they are still dominating Italy, it’s fair to say they are more deserving of the higher rank. Anywho, Chelsea is/has been extraordinary this season. Didier Drogba, Anelka, Lampard, Terry. Shit, the whole team is good. They are a veteran club that is nothing less than a force to be reckoned with. They have passed nearly all tests (including a hard fought 1-0 win over United) thus far with the exception of slip-ups to Man City and Aston Villa. With the Champions League looming, we will probably get to see how real they are when they are take the pitch with Inter in two weeks. (Just realized they drew Hull City today. Interesting…)


4. Real Madrid: This is a tossup between them and Manchester United. The only reason I’m putting them ahead is because of Cristiano Ronaldo. After watching him impose his will against Malaga, I was quickly reminded of how unbelievable he is. He literally does what he wants. Futhermore, Higuain and Benzema have been really clicking well with each other lately. The only reason I have them this low is because they have certainly had some slip-ups against unworthy opponents such as a recent 1-0 falter to Athletic Bilbao. In their biggest match of the year against Barcelona, Real lost 1-0 at Camp Nou with Ronaldo still recovering from his ankle injury. Nonetheless, I think there is still much to find out about arguably the best team on paper.


5. Manchester United: I almost feel bad putting them this low after the performances they turned in as of late. They had been heating up for a while now but after the highly publicized Carling Cup semifinal victory over rivals Man City and the convincing 3-1 defeat of Arsenal at Emirates, they are arguably top 3. I’ll bet if old Zachy-poo were to redo this article, again asking “Who’d they least like to play?”, he might be putting United on top. They can attribute most of their success to the unbelievable play of Wayne Rooney who has single handedly taken over the scoring duties. Not to mention the great play of Scholes, Fletcher, Carrick, and Nani. Everyone had been doing their part. They are now only 2 points behind Chelsea and with a dangerous Arsenal club coming to town, United may be the top team in England come next week.


6. Arsenal: The bottom half of the top 10 is where things start to get a little more difficult. Arsenal is probably the logical choice at no. 6. Probably a tossup with Milan really but I think Arsenal plays in the more competitive league overall in England. Both teams have absolutely wet the bed in their biggest matches of the year so with Arsenal having a little tougher battle against their mid level opponents, I’ll give them the advantage. They have a chance to redeem themselves this weekend against Chelsea but heading into Stamford Bridge, I’m not expecting much. They are just two week in the back like they showed this weekend against United.


6. AC Milan: Other than their recent ass whooping at the hands of Inter, Milan has been unreal. The entire world considered them down and out this year and despite the starting the season just as we thought, they have gone on an extraordinary run, bringing themselves back into 2nd place in Serie A. They showed their potential in a surprising 3-2 Champions League win over Real Madrid and followed it up in the second leg with a hard fought 1-1 draw. They have a tough matchup looming with Manchester United in the knockout stages but who knows? Anything can happen.


7. Girondins de Bordeaux: Bordeaux showed that they are no joke as they won their group convincingly (didn’t lose a match) against fellow European juggernauts Juventus and Bayern Munich. They defeated Munich twice and went 1-0-1 against Juventus. Pretty strong I must say. Now they are paired up with Greece’s Olympiakos who, in my opinion, is a great draw for Bordeaux. As for in France, they have a solid 6 point lead over Montpellier and 9 points over fellow French powerhouse Lyon. Look out Europe.


8. Bayern Munich: Bayern has been somewhat impressive as they have managed to stay in contention for the Bundesliga title, despite not having star Franck Ribery at 100% for much of the season. They didn’t impress much in both of their Champions League losses to Bordeaux but at least they managed to advance out of the group. They should advance to the next stage being paired with Fiorentina (the bookmakers sure think so) and should also win this year’s Bundesliga crown. However, they still aren’t what they were in recent years past.


9. Sevilla/Valencia: I think it’s a tossup for both these teams although Sevilla came away with the better result this weekend at home in their 2-1 victory. Both have been rather impressive this season and are on track to qualify for next season’s Champions League. Valencia has been led by the Spanish duo of David Villa and David Silva and seem to be a lock to finish in the top 4. Sevilla, before losing a red hot Luis Fabiano to injury, were battling both Real and Barca for the top spot in Spain. With him back in the lineup, they are extremely dangerous.


10. Manchester City: The other reason I paired Sevilla and Valencia together is because I didn’t want to go without mentioning Manchester City. Their offseason acquisitions of Tevez and Adebayor seem to finally be coming together and I think come season end, they will be clinching themselves a spot in next season’s Champions League, not Liverpool. As this team gains more chemistry, the threat of them becoming a top 4 regular becomes more and more real.