Following an international break in which:
– Gareth Southgate’s England bored Three Liones’ fans to tears
– Italy just about qualified for Euro 2024 thanks to a dubious penalty decision.
– And most of the world tried to watch as little football as possible.
We’re back ranking the ten best club football teams in Europe ahead of the return to regularly scheduled domestic football this weekend.
Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Manchester United, Benfica, Barcelona
Over in the Super Lig, arch rivals Fenerbahce and Galatasaray have both won 10 of their 12 league games so far, and a few more positive results – particularly in European competitions – could see them sneak onto this list.
Despite a measly 13 goals in 12 games in the league, Manchester United are quietly putting together a decent run of form recently. Erik ten Hag’s side need to improve their Champions League results in order for us to take them genuinely seriously though.
And over on the Iberian peninsula, Benfica and Barcelona are two teams mounting title challenges that we’re keeping a close eye on too.
Tottenham Hotspur
It’s really has all gone Pete Tong for Tottenham Hotspur.
The injuries to their two best players of the season Micky van de Ven and James Maddison, along with Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero’s suspensions, have seemingly derailed their Premier League title challenge in the space of a week.
Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.
Juventus aren’t a particularly fun football team to watch, but bah gawd are they an effective one.
Utilising peak Max Allegri-ball, Juve have eked out 29 points from 12 games by managing to concede just seven goals.
It’s boring, but it’s working.
PSV’s Eredivisie season so far:
Played: 12
Won: 12
Lost: 0
Goals scored: 40
Goals conceded: 5
That’s quite good, isn’t it?
Following a rather disastrous defeat to Las Palmas, Atleti bounced back well just prior to the international break.
The followed up a 6-0 thumping of a very terrible Celtic team in the UEFA Champions League with a comfortable 3-1 win over Villarreal in the league.
They are firmly the dark horses to win La Liga this season.
From dark horse to…favourites?
Weirdly, Girona are still top of La Liga.
Part of the City Football Group, they are two points clear of Real Madrid thanks to their recent run of five straight wins.
It’s now been over eight months since Aston Villa last dropped points at home in the Premier League.
Eight months.
That is astonishing, and it’s all thanks to the brilliance of their manager Unai Emery, who is getting career-best performances out of basically every single player in his squad right now.
For Federico Dimarco’s goal alone (you can watch above), Inter deserve to be considered one of the top ten teams in Europe.
Add to that the fact that said goal was scored in their sixth consecutive win in all competitions, and you have a team that definitely deserve to be considered a top five team in Europe right now.
Down two after a very surprising 4-4 draw with Chelsea prior to the international break – a result for which City can thank Pep Guardiola’s odd decision to play one defensive midfielder.
City head into this weekend’s clash with Liverpool knowing that a defeat could see them drop off top spot in the Premier League.
There’s one reason Bayern Munich have been motoring recently: Harry Kane.
The England captain is in remarkable form in Bavaria, banging in 21 goals of his own and setting up seven for others already this season.
Perhaps the only thing more remarkable than Kane’s form is the fact that, despite it, Bayern still aren’t top of the Bundesliga because of…
…Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen.
Having won 12 games on the bounce in all competitions, Bayer have been utterly unstoppable of late.
First ever Bundesliga title incoming? It could well be.
No Jude Bellingham? Surprisingly, no problem.
Without their injured superstar, Real Madrid actually put in their best performance of the season so far against Valencia prior to the international break thanks to Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo stepping up.
The recent injury to Vini, as well as one to Eduardo Camavinga, may hinder their form for the rest of 2023 though.
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