Fútbol en South America is finally getting ready to make
news again. Some South American
domestic leagues will get underway this week, with others soon to follow, and
the qualifying rounds of the 2012 Copa Libertadores also begin this week. The biggest news here in Buenos Aires,
however, is the only meeting of the season between Boca Juniors and River
Plate, which takes place in the Torneo de Verano on Wednesday night. While this tournament is little more
than an exhibition, and thus not normally mentioned in the rankings, River Plate’s
relegation to Nacional B for this season makes this match the only time this
season that River can try to secure some bragging rights. ¡Vamos Boca!
Of course, the biggest match of the past week, as well as
the biggest of the upcoming week, both involve Real Madrid and Barcelona. Unfortunately for Barcelona, domestic
cup matches aren’t factored into the Weekly Rankings. That’s why Real Madrid can stay number one despite the fact
it is seemingly unable to beat Barça.
Also, this past week, a couple teams from Manchester beat a
couple of teams from London to secure the top two spots in the English Premier
League and two of the top four spots in this week’s rankings. Nothing, however, compares to the German
Bundesliga, which at the moment has four clubs within one point of each other
at the top of the table. All of
those clubs are in this week’s rankings.
Below, we get into more details for each of the top
clubs. Enjoy!
World Club Rankings – Top 25 Clubs in the World – January
23, 2012
1. Real Madrid (Esp) (1) – Real Madrid was embarrassed
at home, losing 1-2 to Barcelona in the first leg of the clubs’ Copa del Rey
matchup, but maintains its five point lead in the Primera Divsión with a 4-1 home victory over Athletic Blibao.
Coming Up: Real Madrid goes
to the Camp Nou for a Wednesday rematch with Barcelona. In La Liga, Los Blancos host Real
Zaragoza on Sunday.
2. Manchester City (Eng) (3) – City maintains
the top spot in the English Premier League after defeating Tottenham Hotspur 3-2. Coming Up: Mansee’s only match this week will be
its return match at Anfield in the League Cup semifinals, where Liverpool holds
a 1-0 lead going into this week’s match.
3. Bayern Munich (Ger) (2) – Bayern remains
on top of the German Bundesliga table by virtue of goal differential despite
losing 1-3 at Borussia Monchengladbach on Friday. Coming Up:
Bayern will be at home against Wolfsburg on Saturday.
4. Manchester United (Eng) (5) – United kept
pace with City in the Premier League race by defeating Arsenal 2-1 at Emirates
Stadium. Coming Up: Like it’s crosstown rival, United will
travel to Anfield to take on archrival Liverpool in a Saturday FA Cup match.
5.
Barcelona (Esp) (4) – Barça
couldn’t have played much better this week, taking a 2-1 lead in the Copa del
Rey quarterfinals over Real Madrid and defeating Málaga 4-1 to pick up three
away points in the Primera División.
Coming Up: Barça will try
to complete the elimination of Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey in a Wednesday
Superclasico before taking on the Yellow Submarine at Villarreal on Saturday.
6. AC Milan (Ita) (6) – Two matches with
Novara ended in two victories this week, first 2-1 in extra time in a midweek
Coppa Italia match and then Milan beat Novara again, 3-0, in the Serie A. Coming Up: Milan will host Lazio in another Coppa Italia match on
Thursday. In league play, Cagliari
comes to the San Siro on Sunday to take on the red and black.
7.
Juventus (Ita) (7) – With a
2-0 victory over Atalanta, Juventus remains on top of the Italian Serie A
table. Coming Up: On Tuesday, Juve will host Roma in a
Coppa Itlalia match. In the
weekend’s only matchup featuring two WCR Top 25 Clubs, Juve will host Udinese
on Saturday.
9. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (10) – The
defending Bundesliga champions are now tied with Bayern Munich at the top of
this season’s table following a 5-1 defeat of Hamburger SV. Coming Up: Next up for Dortmund will be a home match against Hoffenheim
on Saturday.
10.
Benfica (Por) (11) – The
Liga Sagres leader returns to the Top Ten after defeating Santa Clara 2-0 in a
League Cup Match and knocking Gil Vicente down by a 3-1 score in league
action. Coming Up: Benfica will be away at Feirense on
Saturday.
11. Paris St.-Germain (Fra) (8) – PSG
advanced in the Coupe de France by defeating amateur club Sablé 4-0. Coming Up: PSG returns to Ligue Un action on Saturday at Brest.
12. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) (12) – Spurs
dropped three more points off of the Manchester clubs by falling 2-3 away at Manchester City. Coming Up: On Friday, Spurs return to action in
the FA Cup at Watford.
13.
Montpellier (Fra) (13) – No
matches this week. Coming Up: Today, Montpellier gets a shot at its
own minnow, Tours, in the Coupe de France (Update: I just saw that Montpellier won the match 1-0). In Ligue Un, Montpellier will be away at Nice on Saturday.
14.
Udinese (Ita) (19) –
Udinese kept pace with the Serie A leaders this weekend, defeating Catania 2-1. Coming Up: Saturday’s match at Juventus is very
important if Udinese wishes to be a true contender for the Serie A title.
15.
Valencia (Esp) (16) – In a
much less watched Copa del Rey matchup, Valencia defeated Levante 4-1 at home
in the first leg. In the Primera
División, Valencia drew 1-1 with Osasuna to move even farther behind Spain’s
Big Two in the league table.
Coming Up: Valencia’s
return match at Levante will be on Thursday. In La Liga, Valencia will be away at Racing Santander on
Sunday.
16. Porto (Por) (15) – Porto defeated Catoril 1-0
in a midweek League Cup match and followed that up with a 3-1 victory over Vitória Guimarães in the Liga Sagres.
Coming Up: On Sunday, Porto
will be away at lowly Gil Vicente.
17.
Chelsea (Eng) (14) – The
Blues’ slide continued this weekend when it had to settle for a goalless draw at Norwich City. Coming Up: Chelsea will look to bounce back in a
Saturday FA Cup match at Queens Park Rangers.
20. Schalke 04 (Ger) (17) – Schalke completes the
triumvirate of clubs atop the German Bundesliga after defeating VfB Stuttgart 3-1 at home this weekend. Coming
Up: Schalke will try to continues
its current good run at Cologne on Saturday.
21. Boca Juniors (Arg) (23) – As mentioned
above, even though the Apertura doesn’t begin for a few weeks here in
Argentina, Wednesday’s night match in the Torneo de Verano is huge because it
marks the only match this season between Boca Juniors and River Plate.
22. Inter Milan (Ita) (NF) – After a long
absence, Inter Milan returns to the rankings in a week that saw it defeat Genoa
2-1 in the Coppa Italia and then take down Lazio 2-1 to move into fourth place
in the Italian Serie A. Coming
Up: On Wednesday, Inter faces a
big Coppa Italia test when it travels to take on Napoli. On Sunday, Internazionale will be at
Lecce in its next league match.
23. Borussia Monchengladbach (Ger) (24) –
Monchengladbach is still in fourth place in the German Bundesliga, but it is
only one point behind the leaders after defeating Bayern Munich 3-1 on
Friday. Coming Up: On Sunday, BM will take on VfB Stuttgart
in the Bundesliga.
25. Lille (Fra) (20) – Lille defeated Compiegne 1-0 in extra time to advance in the Coupe de France. Coming Up:
Lille will host St.-Étienne on Saturday in Ligue Un action.
Bubbling Under:
Arsenal (Eng), Corinthians (Bra), Levante (Esp), Omonia Nicosia
(Cyp), Shakhtar Donetsk
(Ukr).
Next Five:
Dinamo Moscow (Rus),
Lazio (Ita), Olympiakos (Gre), Panathinaikos (Gre), Sporting Braga (Por).
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