As we finish up this past weekend, we also have finished up the season for most of the clubs playing in Europe. As has been the case in the past few weeks, more championships have been decided, e.g., Lille taking home the French Ligue Un title and Porto winning the Taça da Portugal. Much more was decided this past weekend with respect to clubs that are destined for relegation, but we don’t publish a Bottom 25 Clubs of the Week, so you can find discussions of those on other sites.
The big movements in the rankings this week involve clubs from South America. In particular, it involves those clubs that qualified for Super Bonus Points in the computer model based on reaching the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores. Two of those clubs make their debuts in the rankings while a third cracks the top ten for the first time. I’ll talk about them below.
Throughout 2011, Manchester United and Barcelona have been ranked numbers one and two in the WCR rankings. I’m sure that’ll also be the case next week but the order may change based upon the results of Saturday’s anticipated epic battle. According to the voters, Manchester United is the slight favorite, even though the pundits tend to disagree. I’ll be watching the match in some bar in Liverpool. I won’t be wearing a Manchester United jersey while I’m doing it.
That’s it for me for now. Enjoy the match on Saturday as I assume you will all be watching it.
World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – May 23, 2011
1. Manchester United (Eng) (1) – Manyoo finished off its Premier League season with a 4-2 victory over Blackpool, pushing the Tangerines back into the Championship League for next season. Coming Up: I think Manchester United is playing some match on Saturday. Can somebody confirm?
2. Barcelona (Esp) (2) – Barcelona also finished off its domestic season on a winning note, defeating Málaga 3-1. Coming Up: Oh, yeah, this is the club that’s playing the Red Devils on Saturday night. I’m rooting for Barça, but I voted for Manyoo.
3. Real Madrid (Esp) (3) – Los Blancos took out their frustration on pathetic little Almeria, crushing the poor boys by an 8-1 score line. Coming Up: Season complete.
4. AC Milan (Ita) (4) – Milan and fellow Champions League participants Udinese fought to a 0-0 draw in both clubs’ 2010/11 Serie A finale. Coming Up: Season complete.
5. Vélez Sarsfield (Arg) (12) – Psshaw if you want, mi amigos, but being on top in the Argentine Clausura and moving on to the Copa Libertadores semifinals at the same time is quite an accomplishment. A 4-2 victory over Libertad in Paraguay accomplished the latter while Vélez was able to extend its Clausura lead over the weekend with a 2-0 victory over Gimnasia La Plata. Coming Up: The semifinals of the South American championship tournament begin on Thursday for Vélez when it hops the Rio Plate to take on Peñarol in Uruguay. Vélez will head out of town to take on Tigre in its next Clausura match on Sunday.
7. Chelsea (Eng) (6) – The Blues late-season disappointments continued as it fell 0-1 to Everton in its season finale. Coming Up: Season complete.
8. Porto (Por) (7) – Porto added two more trophies to its collection case this week, not counting the Liga Sagres title that it had mathematically secured over a month ago. At midweek, Porto beat fellow Portuguese club Sporting Braga 1-0 to take home the Europa League title. This weekend, Porto crushed Vitoria Guimarães 6-2 to take home the Taça da Portugal. Coming Up: Season complete.
9. Lille (Fra) (8) – A 1-0 defeat of Sochaux at midweek along with a 2-2 draw with Paris St.-Germain were enough for Lille to clinch this season’s Ligue Un title in France. Coming Up: Lille will finish off its Ligue Un campaign at home on Sunday against Stade Rennes.
10. Inter Milan (Ita) (9) – A 3-1 victory over Catania was enough for Inter Milan to secure second place in Italy’s Serie A as its season came to an end. Coming Up: Internazionale does have some hope for some hardware this season as it plays Palermo on Sunday in the final of the Coppa Italia.
11. Manchester City (Eng) (17) – Two big wins for Mansee this week, 3-0 in its rematch with Stoke City and 2-0 over Bolton Wanderers, were enough to move City into the final English guaranteed spot in next season’s Champions League. Coming Up: Season complete.
13. Valencia (Esp) (15) – La Liga’s Primera División’s third-place club finished off its season with a
16. Arsenal (Eng) (10) – The Gunners freefall continued to the end as it had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage and now has to settle for a qualifying round spot in next season’s Champions League. Coming Up: Season complete.
18. Napoli (Ita) (19) – The club from the south closed its most successful season in years with a 2-2 draw with former powerhouse Juventus in Turin. Coming Up: Season complete.
19. Marseille (Fra) (18) – It looks like OM will have to settle for deuxieme place in Ligue Un, but it did pick up a point in a 2-2 draw with Valenciennes. Coming Up: Marseille’s Ligue Un season concludes on Sunday against Caen.
20. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr) (20) – Shakhtar’s championship domestic season ended this weekend with a goalless draw at home against Dnipro. Coming Up: The top two clubs in the Ukraine will face off for one more trophy on Wednesday as Shakhtar and Dynamo Kyiv battle for the Ukranian Cup.
21. Santos (Bra) (NR) – Pele’s old club enters the rankings by virtue of Super Bonus Points after eliminating Once Caldas following a 1-1 match at midweek in the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals. Over the weekend, Santos began its 2011 Brazilian Serie A season with a 1-1 draw at home against Internacional. Coming Up: The Copa Libertadores semifinals begin this week on Wednesday when Santos hosts Paraguay’s Cerro Porteño. In Serie A action, Santos will play Botafogo on Saturday.
22. Corinthians (Bra) (NF) – Corinthians returns to the rankings after beginning its Serie A season with a 2-1 victory over Gremio. Coming Up: With no Copa Libertadores matches to worry about, Corinthians will return to action on Sunday when it hosts Coritiba.
23. Udinese (Ita) (22) – All it needed to advance to next season’s Champions League qualifying round was a draw and a 0-0 draw Udinese got against league champions AC Milan. Coming Up: Season complete.
24. Peñarol (Uru) (NR) – Peñarol debuts in the rankings this week despite losing 1-2 to Universidad Católica since it still advanced to the Copa Libertadores semifinals and picked up Super Bonus Points. Domestically, Peñarol drew 1-1 with Defensor Sporting. Coming Up: Peñarol faces a tough challenge in the Copa Libertadores semifinals where it begins in Montevideo against Vélez Sarsfield on Thursday. Domestically, Peñarol is schedule to face off against Central Español.
25. Fenerbahce (Tur) (23) – With a 4-3 victory over Sivasspor, Fenerbahce won its 18th title in the Turkish Super Lig. Coming Up: Season complete.
Bubbling Under: Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr), Fluminense (Bra), Lyon (Fra), Rangers (Sco), Villarreal (Esp).
Next Five: Celtic (Sco), Lazio (Ita), Liverpool (Eng), Tottenham Hotspur (Eng), Trabzonspor (Tur).
Matches This Week Between WCR Top 25 Clubs:
26 May - (5) Vélez Sarsfield at (24) Peñarol
28 May - (1) Manchester United vs (2) Barcelona
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