WCR Top 25 - April 18, 2023
Manchester City is still the unanimous number one club in our rankings. Bayern Munich is still second overall, but the gap is shrinking between them and Real Madrid after a week in which Bayern lost to City in the Champions League and drew with Hoffenheim in the German Bundesliga.
There wasn’t much movement within the WCR Top Ten this week, though some clubs switched places with each other. Newcastle United’s one-week foray into the best in the world came to a crashing end with a 0-3 loss to Aston Villa, allowing Atletico Madrid to become the third Spanish club in the top tier of our rankings.
The biggest mover down the rankings was Benfica, who dropped five notches after losing two matches this past week, including a UCL quarterfinal match to Inter Milan. Inter, their crosstown rivals AC Milan, and Brighton were the biggest movers up the rankings, each moving up four spots. You can catch up on more detail of these team’s exploits in our latest YouTube videos on the WCR Top 25.
There were no new members of the WCR Top 25 Football Clubs in the World this week, though Roma and Aston Villa kept winning and now find themselves just on the other side of the door, each with a double digit accumulation of points. They are just waiting for one of the bottom clubs to lose or for the numbers in some of our contributing computations to realize that Chelsea and Tottenham aren’t as good as they think they are.
All of the rankings are below. If you don’t like the list, please feel free to check out our methodology page, which includes links to all of the source data we are using. Enjoy the first leg of the quarterfinals in the UCL and UEL this week!!!
1. Manchester City (Eng) (125 pts) (5 first place votes) (LW 1) - City looked every bit the best club in the world last week, beginning with a 3-0 crushing defeat of Bayern Munich in the UCL quarterfinals first leg. They looked just as good against Leicester before taking their foot off the pedal and cruising to a 3-1 victory when all was said and done. This week will be a big cup week for Man City with the return leg of the UCL quarterfinals taking them to Munich to try to finish off Bayern on Wednesday, followed by a trip to Wembley to face Sheffield United in the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday.
2. Bayern Munich (Ger) (118 pts) (LW 2) - Okay, so losing 0-3 at the home of the best club in the world isn’t a shocking result, though it is obviously far from optimal in the first leg of a two leg tie. Drawing 1-1 at home against Hoffenheim, however, in the closest big domestic league in Europe is unforgivable. I’m not sure if it was a UCL hangover or what, but Bayern cannot afford any more results like that because Dortmund doesn’t have a very tough schedule going forward. Manchester City will visit Allianz for the return leg of the UCL quarterfinals on Wednesday night and Bayern take on Mainz on the road in its next Bundesliga match on Saturday.
3. Real Madrid (Esp) (115 pts) (LW 3) -This week wasn’t anything special for Real Madrid. They were very clinical, demonstrating that they were the better club in both of their matches and doing so without any show-stopping displays. First, they took a 2-0 lead against Chelsea in the first leg of the clubs’ UCL quarterfinal tie and then they beat Cadiz by the same score in La Liga on Saturday night. This week, the schedule is very similar as they will play Chelsea once again, this time on Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge, and then host Celta Vigo as they try to continue to shore up their second-place position in the La Liga’s Primera division.
4. Barcelona (Esp) (103 points) (LW 4) - If Real Madrid’s recent matches were clinical, Barce’s have been downright uninspired. They have only three goalless draws this season, one in the first match of the La Liga season, and the others have been the past two weeks, including Sunday’s against Getafe. It’s hard to believe a team this good can lose the lead they currently have in La Liga, but it would be nice to see them put some heart into finishing their title run. This Sunday, they will host Atletico Madrid at the Spotify Camp Nou. Unlike Barcelona, Atletico has been playing very well and Barce is going to have to turn it up a notch just to get another goalless draw.
5. Arsenal (Eng) (103 points) (LW 5) - In all honesty, when West Ham scored their first goal on the penalty kick against form, I felt a little bad for Arsenal. The same was true when Saka missed his penalty kick early in the second half. From that point on, however, West Ham was probably the better club and the 2-2 final tally didn’t seem so wrong. The pressure, which was already on Arsenal in the Premier League title race, just got turned up a notch. The Gunners host Southampton on Friday night. If they screw THAT up, they don’t deserve the title. A victory there, however, will set them up for the big matchup with City the following week. This race is getting exciting!
6. Liverpool (Eng) (101 pts) (LW 7) -After about thirty minutes, Liverpool started to look like who they are and then spent the next sixty minutes continuing to look that way in a 6-1 Monday afternoon victory over Leeds United. We will see what will happen from here on out because the Reds’ schedule from isn’t that bad through the rest of the season. That soft stretch continues this weekend when Liverpool welcomes Nottingham Forest to Anfield on Saturday.
7. Napoli (Ita) (100 pts) (LW 6) - At the beginning of the month, Napoli looked like world-beaters and was a top contender for a Champions League trophy. They look more endangered than dangerous at the moment, having lost 0-1 to Milan at the San Siro in their first leg of the UCL quarterfinals, and then looking like a bear with no teeth in a goalless draw at home against Hellas Verona. This recent downturn may be a result of how they are setting themselves up in the second leg against AC Milan on Tuesday in the UCL QF return leg, but they seem to be well out of form right now so we’ll have to see if they’ll be able to right the ship in such a short time. Domestically, it’ll get tougher too, as the leaders travel to Turin to take on Juventus on Sunday night.
8. Manchester United (Eng) (83 pts) (LW 9) -I’m not sure how United managed to blow a 2-0 lead at home against Sevilla - well, I am - a pair of own goals that resulted in a 2-2 draw. No such bad luck occurred at Nottingham Forest, however, in United’s 2-0 win, which saw them take over third place in the Premier League. This week, Manyoo will have to travel to Sevilla to win their Europa League tie, which many clubs have failed to do in the past. Sunday will see United in another cup competition as they take on Brighton at Wembley in an FA Cup semifinal match.
9. Paris St. Germain (Fra) (83 pts) (LW 8) - An early red card allowed PSG to open up the floodgates and see goals scored by Mbappe and Messi in a 3-1 victory over Lens in a match that took them a lot closer to another Ligue 1 title. Next up for PSG will be a Friday night match against minnows Angers in what promises to be quite a one-sided match.
10. Atletico Madrid (Esp) (75 pts) (LW 12) - You’ve got to hand it to Atletico Madrid. The only thing they are battling for, in all reality, is second place with La Liga against their archrival Real Madrid. They will not win the title, but they know they will qualify for next season’s UCL. Still, they keep playing like they are trying to win it all this season, which is how they played in their 2-1 victory over Almeria this past weekend. Let’s hope they keep that up and we get the kind of match we all want on Sunday when Atleti takes on Barcelona at Camp Nou.
11. Inter Milan (Ita) (60 pts) (LW 15)
12. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (60 pts) (LW 11)
13. Newcastle United (Eng) (58 pts) (LW 10)
14. Porto (Por) (53 pts) (LW 14)
15. AC Milan (Ita) (48 pts) (LW 19)
16. Brighton (Eng) (47 pts) (LW 20)
17. RB Leipzig (Ger) (43 pts) (LW 16)
18. Benfica (Por) (41 pts) (LW 13)
19. Juventus (Ita) (40 pts) (LW 17)
20. Chelsea (Eng) (31 pts) (LW 18)
21. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) (23 pts) (LW 22)
22. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (20 pts) (LW 21)
23. Lazio (Ita) (19 pts) (LW 25)
24. Ajax (Ned) (18 pts) (LW 23)
25. Feyenoord (Ned) (14 pts) (LW 24)
Also receiving votes: Roma (Ita) (13), Aston Villa (Eng) (10), Celtic (Sco) (6), Palmeiras (Bra) (5), RB Salzburg (Aut) (4), Lille (Fra) (3), Sporting CP (Por) (2), Athletic Bilbao (Esp) (2), Sevilla (Eng) (1).