Israel Saria
Barcelona remain top of the European Power Rankings, but Lyon and Bayern Munich are making charges.
We take into account both domestic and Champions League performances, plus the relative difficulty of each team’s league, to find out who is the best team in Europe.
And now that the sums have been done the week’s big winners are Lyon, who have jumped from seventh to third in the rankings after their victory at Fiorentina on Tuesday. The French league leaders lost their first league match in six weeks last weekend, but they are still within a couple of points of catching Liverpool.
Also making a charge are Bayern Munich, who are now unbeaten in over two months and have climbed from 12th to fifth. But the German side are about to face a tough couple of weeks: their next two matches are against Leverkusen and Hoffenheim, the only sides ahead of them in the league, after which they head to Lyon for the head-to-head game which will decide the winner of Champions League group F.
Barcelona remain top of the rankings despite their disappointing draw with lowly Getafe in La Liga last weekend, yet they proved on Wednesday night that they still have it. Their 5-2 demolition of Sporting Lisbon leaves no doubt that they are the form team of European football, even if that form has been temporarily downgraded from ‘white hot’ to ‘not quite as hot as they were but still very hot indeed’.
Liverpool remain in second place after beating Marseille on Wednesday, though their draw against Fulham last weekend means that they fail to close the gap on Barca. Chelsea slip a little after their draw with Bordeaux, while Arsenal’s recent victories at Aston Villa and Kiev are enough to keep them ahead of Manchester United, with the two teams in tenth and 11th place.
Things could have been so different for Internazionale. The Serie A side are enjoying a terrific run of league victories and were on the verge of breaking into the top three of the rankings, but their home defeat by Panathinaikos on Wednesday night drops them back to eighth place. Anorthosis Famagusta’s failure to beat Bremen means that Jose Mourinho’s side still qualify for the knockout phase of the Champions League, though the Cypriots still climb a place to 15th.
Big losers this week are Villarreal, who have gone four straight matches without a victory and have dropped from fourth to ninth. Still, with matches coming up against La Liga strugglers Getafe and basement club Recreativo Huelva they’ll have plenty of opportunity to regain their high-flying status in the rankings.
Also dropping back are Juventus, whose seven-match winning streak came to an end when they lost at Inter last weekend. The fact that they then compounded the loss with a draw against Zenit St Petersburg on Tuesday evening ensured that they fall out of the top three.
How they stand:
1. (1) Barcelona – 25.08
2. (2) Liverpool – 22.79
3. (7) Lyon – 20.90
4. (3) Juventus – 20.23
5. (12) Bayern – 20.00
6. (11) Real Madrid – 19.83
7. (6) Chelsea – 19.79
8. (5) Internazionale – 19.54
9. (4) Villarreal – 19.42
10. (9) Arsenal – 19.21
11. (10) Manchester United – 18.62
12. (13) Atletico Madrid – 18.50
13. (8) Sporting Lisbon – 17.00
14. (17) Porto – 16.88
15. (16) Anorthosis Fam – 16.00
16. (14) Dynamo Kiev – 14.87
17. (25) Roma – 14.83
18. (21) Panathinaikos – 14.77
19. (15) Bordeaux – 14.50
20. (29) Shakhtar Donetsk – 13.00
HOW IT WORKS
Scores are based on points per game in domestic league and Champions League games.
Domestic points per game are multiplied by the league coefficient – either 4, 4.5 or 5 – with teams in stronger leagues getting more credit.
League coefficients:
5 – England, Italy, Spain (12 teams)
4.5 – Germany, France, Portugal, Russia, Netherlands (10 teams)
4 – Belarus, Cyprus, Denmark, Romania, Scotland, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine (10 teams)
Champions League victories are counted as three points for a win. They are all multiplied by a coefficient of 5.
Example: Liverpool
29 points from 12 Premier League games = 2.42 points per game.
Multiplied by league coefficient of five – 2.42 x 5 = 12.08
Eight points from four Champions League game = 2.00 points per game.
Multiplied by European coefficient of five – 10.00
Total score = 12.08 + 10.00 = 22.08
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