The Onefootball Euro power rankings: Two new entires and ... a new leader | OneFootball

Many, many things have happened in the month since the last edition of our Onefootball Euro power rankings.

It’s a whole new year and guess what — we have a new leader at the top for the first time all season.

We know this may be controversial, so now more than ever, so let us know on Twitter or Facebook if you disagree.

10. Sporting (New entrant)

Those who aren’t keen followers of football on the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula may not be aware that Sporting haven’t won the league since the 2001/2002 season.

It’s a mystifying barren run for a club that consistently appears in the Champions League but the green half of Lisbon are increasingly optimistic that this could be their year.

Bas Dost’s 19 goals lead a very balanced Sporting side who head into Wednesday’s cup match against Porto full of confidence.

9. Porto (New entrant)

Barcelona may not have lost (in the league) this season but there are another few teams in Europe’s top leagues who haven’t tasted defeat in the league.

Porto and Sporting CP are neck-and-neck at the top of the Liga NOS and neither has lost a league game.

Fun fact: There have been 11 red cards in Porto’s last 13 games. That kind of achievement (and the whole unbeaten thing) merits an appearance in the power rankings.

8. Liverpool (New entrant)

It’s about time Liverpool featured in our top ten — and what a time.

They’re thrilling 4-3 win over Manchester City was pure Jürgen Klopp and it was always going to take a team as brave (or perhaps, naïve) as they are to beat Guardiola’s men.

Liverpool’s defence and goalkeeper situation has reached meme-status (despite the addition of Virgil van Dijk) but it’s worth pointing out that they now haven’t lost a game since October.

7. Atlético Madrid (Last rank: 5)

Diego Costa is back, which was probably always destined to happen, given the the symmetry and synergy between him and his footballing soul-mate, Diego Simeone.

Vitolo’s presence should also boost the Madrid side, who all of a sudden feel a whole lot more Atleti again.

It probably helps that they have six clean sheets in their past seven games.

6. Napoli (Last rank: 5)

They still hold a slim advantage at the top of Serie A but Napoli are now out of both the Coppa Italia and the Champions League.

Maurizio Sarri’s side are still great fun to watch but let’s face it: they don’t have the squad to outlast Juventus and claim that elusive Scudetto.

4. Bayern Munich (Last rank: 4)

Bayern haven’t played much competitive football since our last rankings but they looked well-prepared and well-rested in a big 3-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen in their return from break.

With the Bundesliga all but wrapped up and a fairly easy tie against Besiktas to come in the Champions League, the most pressing issue that Bayern face at the moment is actually finding a manager for after this season.

5. Juventus (Last rank: 7)

Juve had a testing December as they faced Napoli, Inter and Roma within the space of four Serie A games.

As they’ve always done in recent seasons, the Old Lady passed with flying colours.

They’ve conceded just a single goal in 11 games since losing to Sampdoria in November — a sign that Massimiliano Allegri has found the perfect balance following the departure of Leonardo Bonucci, whose decision to leave Turin is looking pretty silly at the moment.

3. Paris Saint-Germain (Last rank: 3)

They have players taking extended vacation, others keen to leave Paris and others still seemingly just choosing when they go on holiday — *Cough, cough, Neymar*.

And yet, PSG just keep winning. They are so much better than the rest of Ligue 1 that it doesn’t seem to matter who’s there and who’s not.

The real test awaits when they return to the Champions League in February.

2. Manchester City (Last rank: 1)

Even in defeat, City proved terrifically entertaining and showed all of their quality going forward.

They look set to lose out on Alexis Sánchez but Pep Guardiola seems intent on finding a way to improve the squad anyway.

That should be a scary thought for the rest of the Premier League, with the chasing pack still 12 points behind them.

Guardiola always insisted that going the whole season unbeaten was not a realistic goal and the defeat may actually take a weight off of the players’ backs. That’s another scary thought.

1. Barcelona (Last rank: 2)

The king is dead. Long live the king.

Manchester City have been finally dethroned as the leaders of our rankings after their first defeat of the season left Europe’s top five leagues with only one unbeaten (in the league) side: Barcelona.

City have rightly received plaudits for their historic, record-breaking play and the wonderful style with which they’ve done it but what Barcelona are doing deserves no less praise.

They’ve conceded an absurd nine goals in the LaLiga, have Lionel Messi back in top form and have signed Philippe Coutinho and Yerry Mina. It’s mightily close but over two legs right now, you’d probably have to back Barcelona to beat City.