UEFA Champions League, Power Rankings: Barcelona, Until Proven Otherwise
Barcelona showed why they should be considered the tournament’s favorites, but strong performances from Chelsea and Arsenal helped identify the teams ready to usurp the Catalan giants.
Why rely on standings when you can have powerful rankings? In the real Champions League, a club will play (at most) seven of the tournament’s 31 teams. Is that a basis for comparison? No! If that were a clinical trial plan, the Food and Drug Administration would ...
OK, that’s going to a bad place, but trust me - a real regulating agency would scoff. We need a broader basis for comparison, which is why I’m offering up my vivid imagination. After all, there is absolutely nothing scoff-worthy about power rankings. Right?
Regardless, take them with a grain of salt. Have fun with them. Use the comments to criticize and provide your own order. It’s only been one match day, and while we all want to talk about who the favorites are, there’s still a lot of tournament to come.
But until it does, my scoff-free order:
1. Barcelona - Barcelona’s still the best team in the world. Lionel Messi’s still the best player in the world. After Sidney Govou’s early goal at the Nou Camp, player and club showed why. They may be upset again at some point this season, but as of now, they should still be considered the favorites.
2. Chelsea - Missing Didier Drogba (amongst others), Chelsea cruised thanks to Nicolas Anelka and Michael Essien. While Arsenal’s single day accomplishment may have been more impressive, Chelsea’s place in the favorite’s pecking order has to put them second. When you consider their midfield strength matches-up with Barcelona, this has to be the team Pep Guardiola's praying he avoids.
3. Arsenal - Not that Arsenal isn’t making a convincing argument, but we have to consider: Braga may have been out-of-their element on Wednesday, making their Champions League debut. “Welcome to the good life,” though I don’t think that’s how the phrase works.
4. Real Madrid - This may prove low. Real Madrid was better than their 2-0 win hints, but more importantly, they controlled their match with Ajax in a way we’ve come to expect a Mourinho team. Given Mourinho’s teams have not been good in group phase of late, perhaps the Special One is using this stage of the tournament to instill a new attitude at the Santiago Bernabeu. We’ll see if that pays off when they play Milan.
5. Bayern Munich - Without Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery, Bayern needed two goals late against a Roma team that's proving to be a small mess. Off topic: combine Robben’s diving, Ribery’s troubles with the law (and his federation) and Mark van Bommel’s tactics, does Bayern have the club world’s least likable trio of stars? Vote below. If you vote no, give me your pick. I haven’t given this that much thought.
6. Valencia - Based on this week’s result alone, Los Che deserve a better ranking, though perhaps the Turkish teams aren’t what they used to be? Last year, all of their European entrants underperformed. Given the league has only one team in Europe this season, saying Turkey isn’t what it used to be seems almost an understatement. Perhaps a 4-0 win at Bursa isn’t that big a deal?
7. Milan - Auxerre has a way of making all of their opponents look worse than they are, so getting a two goal win - even if it’s at home - is notable. Getting Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the scoresheet early should alleviate many concerns build from last weekend’s disappointment.
8. Internazionale - While Rafa Benitez wants to do things differently than José Mourinho, disappointing group stage play is apparently staying. Credit to Twente for holding the holders, but Inter Milan should not be drawing Dutch teams, even when the goals allowed are coming from direct kicks and own goals. While it’s just one match and far from a terrible result, Inter still seem a ways back of the favorites.
9. Manchester United - Wish I could drop them more, but let’s face it - this result’s going to look aberrational . You have to punish them for failing to break through Rangers; however, matches like those occasionally happen. It’s why teams still find an ultra-defensive approach viable. There’s only so much I’m willing to punish Manchester United for the inherent nature of soccer.
10. Tottenham Hotspur - After their fast start, Spurs wanted more, but objectively, their 2-2 result at Bremen was huge. Werder’s the team Spurs are expected to compete with for Group A’s second place. Getting a road point gives Spurs an early edge toward getting out of group.
11. Benfica - Needed to be more dominant against one of the tournament’s weaker teams to warrant a higher ranking, but in beating Hapoel 2-0, Benfica showed they’re the favorites in one of the draw’s weakest groups.
12. Lyon - Schalke is really bad, so beating them at home 1-0 is tantamount to a baseline result. Lyon earned some bonafides last year and still has a very talented team, but they failed to impress on the first match day.
13. Werder Bremen - Werder recovered from a horrible start to draw with Tottenham, giving us reason to believe they will be stronger throughout the remainder of group stage. This ranking owes as much to that potential as Tuesday’s outcome.
14. Twente - With a good result against last year’s champions, Michel Preud’homme continues his strong start as Steve McLaren’s replacement. Twente may still be the weakest of a deep Group A, but in taking a home point from the quartet’s strongest team, the Reds showed themselves potential second place finishers. Group A has quickly turned into the draw’s most interesting quartet.
15. Auxerre - Looked on-track for a draw for most of their trip to the San Siro yet still got a dose of Champions League reality. In a group with Real Madrid and Milan, Auxerre is a long way from being able to advance to the knock-out stage. Even a good defensive performance on Wednesday became a 2-0 loss.
16. Shakhtar Donetsk - Half-full: It was good to get a win coming off a Friday loss and a devastating injury to a key player. Half-empty: Group H’s second place team will probably half to prove stronger than a 1-0 home victory against Partizan, a win where the goal came off a late direct kick.
17. Roma - While they were close to getting a point in Munich, Roma seemed markedly, unreasonably inferior to a team composed of similarly talented players. Still yet to score a goal this year, the Giallorossi are showing themselves closer to third place then first in Group E.
18. Ajax - Were dominated in their 2-0 loss in Madrid but were also playing without Luis Suárez. They can’t be judged too harshly.
19. Spartak Moscow - The luckiest result of the day - one of the luckier I’ve seen in some time - yet Spartak got three points, and even if they hadn’t gotten Cesar Azpilicueta’s own goal, they were on track to take a point from Marseille. They’re now slight favorites to take second place in Group F.
21. Olympique Marseille - You could even argue they deserve to be ranked higher than Spartak, based on showing as the superior team for most of the match. At the same time, they let a team come to the Vélodrome and take three points. On some level, that has to affect our evaluation.
20. Rangers - This is the inverse of Manchester United, the type of evaluation you get when one team bunkers for a 0-0. Rangers deserve credit for getting a point out of Old Trafford. That does not mean we need to think they’re good.
22. Panathinaikos - Pana has now scored exactly one goal in each of their five competitive matches this season. On Tuesday, the allowed more goals than the previous four combined, but they were playing at Barcelona and catching them at the worst time possible - after an upset loss. Given the result in Copenhagen, Pana still seems the best bet to finish second.
23. Sporting Braga - Like Pana, they get a bit of a pass, though for a different reason. Arsenal’s a poor match-up for them as is, but add Champions League inexperience and you get a lopsided result. Like Pana, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them overcome this set-back and make it into the knock-out round.
24. Bursaspor - While Turkey has produced some weak continental contenders of late, Bursaspor is better than they showed on Tuesday. Still, after losing at home to the group’s likely second place team, they may need to temper expectations and concentrate on beating Rangers for the group’s Europa League spot.
25. Schalke - After a poor performance at a struggling Lyon, Schalke’s only competitive win this year is in German cup competition, a 1-2 win at third-division Aalen, where Schalke played almost the entire match up a man. Whereas at one time they could have been argued as a contender to get out of group, their struggles make Group B slightly more predictable.
26. Rubin Kazan - Gave up a late goal at Copenhagen and affirmed suspicions that they have lost too much to come out of Group E. Their struggles were the silver lining in Panathinaikos’s day.
27. CFR Cluj - Got two early goals at home against Basel and held-out for a win. Their result was less impressive than obligatory. While Roma seems to be opening the door for both them and Basel, they’ll need to show better if they are to unseat the struggling Italians.
28. Copenhagen - Like Cluj, Copenhagen held serve, though they did so with a late goal against an opponent that’s more name than content. Regardless, Copenhagen sits second in Group D after one match day, meaning Rubin and Pana now need to track them down.
29. Basel - Though they lost in Romania, Basel may be the best bet to steal second place from Roma. Granted, they didn’t show that potential on Wednesday, and Roma will have to continue struggling, but Basel at least has the pieces to spring that surprise. Samuel Inkoom, Benjamin Huggel, Scott Chipperfield, Alexander Frei - this team has enough quality to take advantage of a sleep-walking Roma.
30. Partizan - Whether Shakhtar proves as tough as they’ve been in the past remains an open question, but the Serbians still nearly stole a point in Donetsk - a decent performance for their first Champions League appearance in eight years.
31. Hapoel Tel Aviv - Hapoel may be out of their depth in this competition, but they held reasonably well in Lisbon. Benfica’s a talent team that’s been known to run up a score. The Israeli champions prevented them from doing so.
32. Zilina - “Welcome to Champions League! Here’s three goals in 28 minutes. XOXO, Chelsea.”
Current Group Picks
Group A: 1. Inter Milan, 2. Tottenham, 3. Werder Bremen, 4. Twente
Group B: 1. Benfica, 2. Lyon, 3. Schalke, 4. Hapoel
Group C: 1. Manchester United, 2. Valencia, 3. Bursaspor, 4. Rangers
Group D: 1. Barcelona, 2. Panathinaikos, 3. Rubin Kazan, 4. Copenhagen
Group E: 1. Bayern Munich, 2. Roma, 3. Basel, 4. CFR Cluj
Group F: 1. Chelsea, 2. Spartak Moscow, 3. Marseille, 4. Zilina
Group G: 1. Real Madrid, 2. Milan, 3. Auxerre, 4. Ajax
Group H: 1. Arsenal, 2. Sporting Braga, 3. Shakhtar Donetsk, 4. Partizan
