Bad news folks: another international break is upon us. And unfortunately that means club football has been on hold for a couple of weeks.
While it’s terrible news, the break gives us some time to reflect on what we’ve seen around Europe so far this season.
It’s been a great season for European football so far. Just last week we saw top clubs throw away massive leads (Tottenham Hotspur and Bayer Leverkusen), star players score stunning goals (Vinicius Junior) and veteran strikers roll back the years (Robert Lewandowski).
After all that fun, here’s our ranking of the ten best teams in Europe right now.
Bayer Leverkusen have been as entertaining as ever this season, but not as effective as before.
Xabi Alonso’s men’s defensive shortcomings have been a problem, and reared their head at the weekend when Leverkusen surrendered a two-goal lead at home to Holstein Kiel.
The goals were Leverkusen’s 11th and 12th in just six Bundesliga games. This is pretty bad.
Spoiler alert: PSV Eindhoven are one of only two teams on this list to have won all of their league games in 2024/25.
The Dutch giants made it eight wins from eight in the Eredivisie with a 2-1 win over Sparta Rotterdam at the weekend. A beautiful
If you have looked Real Madrid Throughout this season, you’ll know things haven’t quite clicked for the Kylian Mbappé-led attack.
That said, thanks to the individual talent of their players, they keep winning games. The weekend win over Villarreal was another in which a moment of brilliance from a star player – this time Vinicius Junior – was enough to see Madrid over the line.
Juventus’ stunning 3-2 win over RB Leipzig in the Champions League had fans exclaiming: “We’re back baby!!!!”
Juventus’ rather disappointing draw with Cagliari in Serie A had fans exclaiming: “We’re still a work in progress baby!!!”
That last exclamation is a better representation of where Thiago Motta’s new Juve are now.
The other team on this list who have won every league game so far this season is Sporting CP.
And considering they’ve scored 27 goals and conceded just two in Liga Portugal in their first eight games, it’s easy to see why they have a 100% record.
That is to say ridiculous shape
His stock may have plummeted thanks to his move to Tottenham Hotspur, but Antonio Conte remains one of the best managers in the world.
Proof of that claim can be found in the fact that Conte has taken a Napoli side that finished 10th in Serie A last season to top spot heading into the second international break of the season.
And he has achieved this by signing Scott McTominay and Romelu Lukaku. Remarkable things.
It’s fair to say that everyone who wrote off Robert Lewandowski after a 2023/24 relegation campaign looks pretty stupid right now.
The Poland international is back to his much, much, much better self under Hansi Flick this season. His hat-trick in the weekend win over Deportivo Alavés took his tally to 12 goals in 11 games in all competitions.
That’s pretty cool if you ask us.
where Liverpool Will fans expect their side to keep pace with Arsenal and Manchester City in a title race in Arne Slot’s first season in charge?
Maybe not.
And yet here we are, with Liverpool sitting top of the table after seven games.
They have managed to win six of their opening games thanks in large part to how solid they have been defensively – conceding just two goals so far.
No Rodri? no problem
Well, when Mateo Kovacic puts in performances like that against Fulham anyway.
The Croatian was in fine form, scoring a brace to secure another vital win for Manchester City.
Staying top this week after another weekend win is Mikel Arteta’s arsenal.
With the win against Southampton, the Gunners extended their unbeaten start to the season to 10 games in all competitions.
Another “invincible” year coming up? You never know…
