For the record, the photo accompanying this article is from Thursday’s Boca Juniors match with Chacarita Juniors at the Bombonera. It had no effect on the rankings, but I wanted to post a photo of my own to the entry.
For the first time in over a month, a club remained at the top spot of the rankings for consecutive weeks as Chelsea solidified its position at the top with a pair of 4-0 victories over Bolton Wanderers this week. Despite this, it’ll be all up for grabs again next week as Chelsea hosts Manchester United on Sunday in one of the top matches of the season thus far.
The top match of the past weekend took place in Portugal for a change, where Sporting Braga was able to retake the Liga Sagres lead by defeating Benfica 2-0 at home. Earlier in the week, Juventus manhandled Sampdoria 5-1 to take over second place in Italy’s Serie A. Werder Bremen also moves up the charts by moving into second place in the Bundesliga despite getting only a single point against Nurnberg.
Oddly enough, there are no matches involving a pair of ranked clubs this week in the Champions League, but there is one in the Europa League. After being absent for several weeks, Celtic returns to the Top 25 this week just in time for its rematch with Hamburger SV in Germany on Thursday. The other top match of the week promises to be Ajax’s visit to Eredivisie leader Twente FC.
Those are the highlights in a week where changes in the rankings were minimum. The details are below.
World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – November 2, 2009
1. Chelsea (Eng) (1) – After beating Bolton Wanderers 4-0 at midweek to advance in the Carling Cup, Chelsea spent the weekend beating Bolton 4-0 again to solidify its spot atop the Premiership and the rankings. Coming Up: Chelsea heads to Spain to take on struggling Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, but the important match takes place on Sunday when Manchester United comes to Stamford Bridge for a highly-anticipated match.
2. Barcelona (Esp) (2) – The week started off well enough for Barcelona with a 2-0 Copa del Rey victory over Cultural y Deportivo Leanesa. In league play, however, Barcelona picked up only one point in a 1-1 draw with Osasuna. Coming Up: Barcelona will travel to Russia to try to avenge its home loss to Rubin Kazan. Domestically, Barcelona takes on an improved Mallorca club on Saturday.
3. Inter Milan (Ita) (3) – In two matches, Inter was able to stretch its Serie A lead to seven points after a 5-3 defeat of Palermo at midweek and a 2-0 victory over Livorno this weekend. Coming Up: Inter really needs a win this week in its Champions League match, and it won’t be easy as it travels to the Ukraine to take on Dynamo Kyiv. In league play, Inter will play Roma on Sunday.
4. Manchester United (Eng) (6) – Like Chelsea, United’s two matches had the same score, though the Red Devils did it against two different clubs, beating Barnsley 2-0 in a Carling Cup match and Blackburn Rovers 2-0 in a Premiership match. Coming Up: Manchester United welcomes CSKA Moscow to Old Trafford on Tuesday for a Champions League matchup. On Sunday, Manyoo will head to Stamford Bridge to take on top-ranked Chelsea in the match of the weekend.
5. Real Madrid (Esp) (4) – I don’t know what the hell happened at midweek to Real Madrid but the club lost to CD Alcorcon (who? I don't even know if I spelled that right.) 0-4 in a Copa del Rey match. Domestically, Madrid fared better with a 2-0 victory over Getafe to move within a point of Barcelona in the Primera Division. Coming Up: Like Vito Corleone in Godfather II, Madrid will head to Italy with revenge on its mind as it takes on AC Milan at the San Siro on Tuesday. Domestically, Saturday is derby day in Madrid ast Real takes on Atletico.
6. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (5) – Despite only being able to score a 2-2 draw with Schalke 04, Leverkusen narrowly held on to its Bundesliga lead as other German clubs stumbled. Coming Up: Without Europe to worry about, Leverkusen will wait until Friday to play, a Bundesliga match against Eintracht Frankfurt.
7. Arsenal (Eng) (7) – The Gunners were able to add to Liverpool’s problems by scoring a 2-1 victory over the Reds to advance in the Carling Cup. Arsenal followed that by knocking Tottenham out of the rankings with a 3-0 victory over the north London club. Coming Up: On paper at least, this week looks to be a little easier as Arsenal hosts AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday in a Champions League matchup and takes on Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
8. Sporting Braga (Por) (9) – Given a second chance to prove itself, Braga did it for a second time by beating Benfica 2-0 to retake the Liga Sagres lead and the eighth spot in the rankings. Coming Up: Braga will not return to action until Saturday when it takes on Vitoria Guimaraes in a Liga Sagres match.
9. Benfica (Por) (8) – Benfica is still putting up huge numbers, defeating Nacional 6-1 on Monday. On Saturday, however, Benfica lost its first Liga Sagres match of the season, losing 0-2 to Sporting Braga. Coming Up: Benfica gets another shot at Everton, who it crushed 5-0 a few weeks ago, in Europa League action. Domestically, Benfica will host Naval next Monday.
10. Werder Bremen (Ger) (14) – Bremen scored a 3-0 victory over Kaiserslautern to advance to the quarterfinals of the DFB Pokal. In Bundesliga play, Bremen picked up a point on the road in a 2-2 draw at Nurnberg to move into second place in the German table. Coming Up: Werder Bremen has two home matches this week, against Austria Wien on Thursday in a Europa League match and Borussia Dortmund on Sunday in Bundesliga action.
11. Sevilla (Esp) (12) – Unlike Real Madrid, Sevilla beat its Copa de Rey minnow, Ciudad de Lorqui, by a 4-2 score. In league play, Sevilla defeated Deportivo Xerez 2-0 to hold on to third place in the Primera Division. Coming Up: On Wednesday, Sevilla will host VfB Stuttgart in a Champions League match. In league play, Sevilla will host the Yellow Submarine of Villarreal on Sunday.
12. Juventus (Ita) (19) – Juventus was able to take back second place in Serie A by virtue of its 5-1 thrashing of Sampdoria at midweek. The joy was reversed rather quickly, however, as Juventus was upset at home by Napoli 2-3 over the weekend. Coming Up: Juventus’ Champions League match will be on Tuesday at Maccabi Haifa. On Saturday, Juventus will take on Atalanta.
13. Bordeaux (Fra) (13) – The top two clubs in the Ligue Un table took each other on this weekend and Bordeaux walked away with a 1-0 victory over Monaco to keep hold of first place. Coming Up: Bordeaux will take on Bayern Munich at Allianz Arena on Tuesday in its Champions League match. On Sunday, Bordeaux returns to Ligue Un action against Lille.
14. Porto (Por) (15) – Porto performed disappointingly this weekend, managing only a 1-1 draw against Os Belenenses in a Liga Sagres matchup. Coming Up: Porto travels to Cyprus to take on APOEL on Tuesday. Sunday, Porto will take on Maritimo in domestic action.
15. Hamburger SV (Ger) (11) – HSV dropped to third place in the Bundesliga this week after a surprising 2-3 home loss to Borussia Monchengladbach. Coming Up: Hamburger will try to repeat its performance against Celtic when it hosts the Scottish club in a Europa League match on Thursday. On Sunday, Hamburger takes on Hannover 96.
16. Manchester City (Eng) (16) – Man City performed as expected in its Carling Cup match in defeating Scunthorpe United 5-1. It performed disappointingly, however, in drawing 0-0 with Birmingham City. Coming Up: Man City is off until Saturday when it hosts Burnley in the Premiership.
17. Twente (Ned) (17) – Early in the week, Twente defeated Capelle 3-0 in a KNVB Beker match. In Eredivisie play, Twente defeated Roda JC 2-1 to maintain its lead in the Dutch league. Coming Up: On Thursday, Twente will host FC Sheriff in a Europa League match. On Sunday, Twente hosts Ajax in a battle of clubs at or near the top of the Eredivisie table.
18. Valencia (Esp) (20) – Valencia took a 1-0 victory over CD Alcoyano in the away leg of the clubs’ Copa del Rey matchup. In league play, Valencia defeated Malaga 1-0 to stay in fourth place in La Liga. Coming Up; Valencia heads to the Czech Republic to take on Slavia Praha in a Thursday Europa League match. Domestically, Sevilla hosts Real Zaragoza on Sunday.
19. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) (21) – PSV faced fellow Eredivisie club Roda JC in its KNVB Beker match and walked away with a 2-0 victory. In league play, PSV defeated Vitesse 1-0. Coming Up; PSV will take on FC Kobenhavn in Denmark on Thursday in the Europa League. On Sunday, PSV will be on the road again to take on ADO Den Haag.
20. Estudiantes (Arg) (BU) – In a midweek Apertura match, Estudiantes defeated Godoy Cruz 2-1 to do its part to lead the very tight Argentine league. Coming Up; Estudiantes has two matches this week, taking on Banfield on Tuesday and hosting Velez Sarsfield on Friday.
21. Sampdoria (Ita) (10) – Saying that it was a bad week for Sampdoria would be putting it mildly. The week started with a 1-5 butt-kicking defeat at the hands of Juventus. Over the weekend, Sampdoria had to settle for a scoreless draw against Bari. Coming Up: If Sampdoria is going to bounce back, it’ll have to start in an away match on Sunday against Cagliari.
22. Celtic (Sco) (BU) – Celtic returns to the rankings despite losing in the Scottish League Cup to Hearts by a 0-1 score. In its Premier League match, Celtic performed much better by defeating Kilmarnock 3-0. Coming Up: Celtic will seek revenge in Hamburg on Thursday in its Europa League match. In SPL play, Celtic will take on Falkirk on Sunday.
23. Ajax (Ned) (22) – It took extra time, but Ajax advances in the KNVB Beker by virtue of a 2-1 victory over Dodrecht. In its Eredivisie match, Ajax scored another blowout, this time by a 5-1 score over Feyenoord. Coming Up: Ajax will take on Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League on Thursday, but its big match takes place on Sunday when it takes on Eredivisie-leading Twente.
24. Panathinaikos (Gre) (24) – The deadlock in the Greek Super League remains. In Cup action, Panathinaikos defeated Eordaikos Ptolemaida by a 3-0 socre. In league play, Panathinaikos defeated Panionios 2-1. Coming Up: In its Europa League match, Panathinaikos heads to Austria to take on Sturm Graz on Thursday. It will take on Levadiakos in Super League play on Sunday.
25. Olympiakos (Gre) (25) – Olympiakos did take one step this week to separate itself from Panathinaikos by losing in the Greek Cup to Panserraikos by a 1-3 score. In league play, however, Panathinaikos won by one, so Olympiakos had to as well, defeating Atromitos 1-0. Coming Up: Olympiakos will be in Belgium on Wednesday to take on Standard Liege in a Champions League match. In the Super League, Olympiakos will host Iraklis on Saturday.
Bubbling Under (alphabetically) – Aston Villa (Eng), Banfield (Arg), Fenerbahce (Tur), Mallorca (Esp), Palmeiras (Bra).
Next Five: Hoffenheim (Ger), Liverpool (Eng), Rangers (Sco), Schalke 04 (Ger), Tottenham Hotspur (Eng).
Matches This Week Between WCR Top 25 Clubs:
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