Weak week by Spanish clubs cast La Liga's dominance into question

Four losses, two wins, one draw. It was not a good week for Spanish clubs in European competition. Champions League title holders Barcelona, previously thought to be all but unbeatable, kicked things off with a dispiriting home loss to Rubin Kazan Tuesday. A day later, the Madrid clubs turned in a pair of stinkers; Real played poorly in losing to AC Milan at home and Atletico were trounced 4-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Thursday Valencia struggled to draw Slavia Prague at home and Villareal were put to the sword by Lazio in Europa League competition. Only Sevilla (3-1 winners at Stuttgart) and Athletic Bilbao (2-1 over Portuguese side Nacional Funchal) managed victories.

There's no way around it: This was a very poor showing. Too much to be written off as a series of random events that conspire to trick you into seeing a pattern where none actually exists. (You know, that black swan stuff. Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Yada yada. Not ringing any bells? Okay, forget it, it's probably not even an apt metaphor).

Anyway this was weak by the Liga clubs and it should give pause to those who were calling the Spanish league the best thing in the universe over the summer (you know who you are, Rio Ferdinand). The Spanish clubs are beatable. Even Barcelona. Even at home. The galacticos have no defense, Barca's midfield can be dealt with and the league isn't really very deep beyond that. The Champions League trophy, along with the No. 1 ranking in our Top 25, are not the exclusive domain of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. They can very well go to an English or Italian club. Or who knows, maybe even a French or German one.

To be fair, Atletico Madrid and Villareal are in deep crises. Villareal sit dead last in La Liga and have won just once (a 3-1 decision over Levski Sofia) in 10 matches. Atletico are about to fire their coach after a pathetic start where they've won just one liga match and a Champions League campaign that saw them draw APOEL Nikosia, among other disasters. The rojiblancos aren't going anywhere this season. Not in Europe; probably not in Spain either.

Then you've got teams like Deportivo La Coruna, Mallorca, Sporting Gijon and Espanyol Barcelona who have started strongly to the season and would probably do a lot better representing their country in Europe had they qualified last season. (Though one could say the same thing about Manchester City and Aston Villa vs. Everton and Fulham). And let's not forget about Sevilla, who have nary a blemish so far this season; their two losses came in Liga matches, which suggests the Spanish league is perhaps not that bad, either.

Or does it? Sevilla's Champions League group, with Stuttgart, Glasgow Rangers and Unirea Urziceni, is the weakest of the bunch--by a significant margin at that. You can't really say the Andalusians are being tested domestically or in Europe, and the Champions League knockout stage will likely prove their undoing (depending on who they draw, of course).

Real and Barca may very well get it together and should be able to mount a serious challenge in Europe before it's all said and done. But La Liga is not the dominant force many had (prematurely) figured. That much should be clear at this point.

Photo from wikimedia.

Soccer Source Saturday Summary: Barca Falls

You knew it would happen eventually. There were hints of this in last week's 2-2 draw with Real Betis. Signs, perhaps, that Barcelona were mortal after all. That an unbeaten streak stretching back to August might not last forever. Today, it ended. Barca were beaten by cross-town rival Espanyol Barcelona 2-1 on a brace by Ivan de la Pena. It was Barca's first loss in a domestic game since opening day Aug. 31. That's 22 Liga games and seven Copa del Rey matches. An impressive run. But now it's over.

Still, that it ended in such auspicious circumstances is a bit surprising. The Periquitos are struggling at the lower regions of the Liga table and remain anchored in a relegation slot despite today's victory. And the game was held at Camp Nou, Barca's fortress. But Espanyol had played Barca tough in the team's three previous meetings this season (two in the Copa del Rey). While this tends to happen in derbies, Barca also usually finds a way to win. But not today. Were Pep Guardiola's men perhaps "looking ahead" to Tuesday's Champions League tie with Olympique Lyon? Possible. But the Catalonian side may now have a fight on their hands in La Liga as well. Second-placed Real Madrid have been surging (nine straight victories) and today beat up on Real Betis by 6-1 (the same Real Betis that Barcelona fought so hard to draw a week ago). The difference between the two clubs is now seven points.

In Germany, the Juergen Klinsmann watch is back in effect after Bayern Munich dropped their second straight game. The Bavarian club today lost at home to Cologne, a team from the middle of the Bundesliga table. They did so at home, by 2-1, and drop to fourth in the standings with the loss--perhaps more if fifth-placed Bayer Leverkusen win tomorrow's game with Hamburg. Bayern are floundering at possibly the worst time. They visit Sporting Lisbon, who today defeated archrival Benfica in the Lisbon derby. A few weeks ago we thought this one was Bayern's to lose. Now? Who knows.

Sometimes we hate to be right. Not often, because we usually like to gloat and say things like "I don't want to say I told you so...ah, who am I kidding? I love saying it. Told ya so! There. That felt great." That and we frankly aren't right all that often either. But we told you earlier in the week that the tides might have turned in Aston Villa's season. And today, Martin O'Neill's side lost at home to Chelsea in a battle for third place in the Premiership. The Birmingham club still have a six point lead over Arsenal and fifth place, but those six points can go pretty quickly, especially to the club that signed that Arshavin fellow (even though they weren't able to get beyond a scoreless draw with Sunderland today). We hate being right here (well "hate" is a pretty strong word but you catch our drift) because Aston Villa is exactly what the Premiership needs right now: a "non big four" club with a smaller (by comparison at least) budget, a proud history, passionate fan base and iconic head coach (or manager as they're called over there). And owners who aren't Yanks. Oh wait, Villa's are. Forget it then. We may still see Villa in the Champions League next year. But don't count on it. And you can pretty much write off any title aspirations they might have been harboring.

Elsewhere in the Premiership, Blackburn made things interesting but ultimately lost to Man. United, who now lead the league by eight points pending tomorrow's game between Liverpool and Manchester City. Nothing new there, really. Red Devils keep finding ways to win. Their fans' biggest concern right now might be complacency ahead of Tuesday's clash with Inter Milan.

Speaking of Inter, the nerrazurri booked a late victory of their own today, beating Bologna 2-1 in a Serie A encounter. Second-place Juventus managed to match them. Inter's lead remains nine points.

In France, Olympique Lyon won their warm-up match for Tuesday's battle with Barca, which will take place at the Stade Gerland. L'OL beat Nancy 2-0 to expand their Ligue Un lead to six points thanks to second-place Paris Saint Germain dropping points at Grenoble. Yes, they play soccer in Grenoble, apparently.

Photo taken from Diarios de Football without permission.

Saturday Summary, Late Edition: Juve Tops Roma, Real Goes Down

Finally, Juventus beat a top side, edging AS Roma by a 1-0 score earlier today. Alessandro del Piero scored the game's only goal via free-kick on the stroke of halftime. Check it out on youtube, it was pretty sweet. Juve move within a point of second-place Roma with the victory, their first against "top competition" since being promoted back to Serie A this year. They had come close before though, tying Inter Milan twice, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Roma once. So the bianconeri are back. We'll see them in Europe next year for sure; and it will probably in the Champions League.

A few short weeks ago I was ready to (and in fact nearly did) anoint Real Madrid as Spanish league champs. Their lead was nine points at the time and I didn't see how Barca could close the gap. But after losing two of their last three games, including last night's at Real Betis, Madrid's lead is five points. There are 14 games left to play, which is plenty. A lot can happen in that time so let's not anoint anybody as anything just yet.

Except maybe in Holland, where PSV Eindhoven's lead is nine points with nine games left. PSV won at Willem II today (no big shock as Tilburg are second-last). Second placed Ajax Amsterdam also won to keep pace, by a 6-2 hockey score. Oh wait, that was a hockey game. Just kidding. With the victory Ajax put some space between themselves and third-placed Heerenveen, the current employer of one Michael Bradley. Heerenveen only managed a tie today (and no, Bradley didn't score). Ajax visit Eindhoven March 9 and Heerenveen a few weeks afterwards. PSV have pretty smooth sailing besides Ajax' visit, which is why I think they'll end up winning the league without trouble. But who cares about the Netherlands? They don't even have any teams left in the Champions League and Ajax didn't even make the UEFA Cup this year (losing their qualifier to Dynamo Zagreb, who were since eliminated in group play).

Saturday Summary, Feb. 9, 2008: The (Relative) Calm Before The Storm

Today's games can be viewed as the "opening act" for tomorrow's top-of-the-table crackers in England and Germany. Those games (the Manchester derby, Chelsea-Liverpool and Bayern-Werder) will be discussed at length later, but there was plenty to hold our attention until then:

Today's top game in the German Bundesliga featured third-placed Leverkusen against fourth-placed Hamburg SV. The visitors from Hamburg struck first, on a goal by Rafael van der Vaart (yes he's still there) but the home side knotted things up after 60 minutes. The tie doesn't help either team in their campaign for Champions League spots. The two sides are equal on points, with fifth-placed Schalke (they too play tomorrow, in the Revierderby with Dortmund) and Karlsruhe (it's pronounced Karls-rooh) two points in arrears.

Okay so Michael Bradley didn't have a very good game for the U.S. national team at midweek, but he picked right up where he left off with his club team, Heerenveen. The Dutch Eredivisie side were down a goal at halftime of their clash with table-toppers PSV Eindhoven, but Bradley scored the equalizer on 52 minutes. Thanks to the point Heerenveen move back into second place (for the time being. Third placed Ajax play tomorrow).

Poor Barcelona. No sooner does it look as though they were poised to close the gap with their arch rivals and take first place from Real Madrid that they drop crucial points today. Granted the game at Sevilla was not an easy undertaking and Barca are fortunate to come away with the point as they trailed until Xavi's goal in the 76th minute. But Real can pad their lead to eight points if they beat Valladolid at the Bernabeu tomorrow.

Finally, in the Premiership, the top two sides in action (fourth-placed Everton and fifth-placed Aston Villa) both won, which only increases the pressure on Liverpool, who now sit sixth but with two games in hand. After Should Liverpool lose tomorrow's game at Stamford Bridge they will have nearly two weeks to ponder their predicament, as they have FA Cup duty next week and a visit from Inter Milan for the CL Round of 16 the following Tuesday.

Saturday Summary, Feb. 2, 2008: Real Rocked, Heerenveen Hot

A ray of hope, perhaps, for Barcelona in Spain's Primera Division, as their arch rivals Real Madrid went down for only the third time this season, succumbing to seventh-placed UD Almeira, 2-0. Second-placed Barca can cut Real's lead to six points with a victory over Osasuna tomorrow, which would essentially re-open a title chase many had just began to write off.

Elsewhere, Michael Bradley's Heerenveen romped to a 7-0 victory over Vitesse Arnheim to retake second place in the Dutch Eredivisie. The son of U.S. men's national team coach Bob Bradley continued his scoring streak (six games and counting) with a 50th minute goal to put his team up 3-0. It was icing on the cake after that. The Pride of Friesland can rightfully stake their claim as one of Europe's hottest teams at the moment, having won their last four games by a combined score of 19-1. Perhaps the Top 25 committee will take notice? It may depend on whether Heerenveen hold onto second place. Third- and fourth-placed Ajax Amsterdam and Feyenoord Rotterdam face off tomorrow. Both are two points behind Heerenveen, so stay tuned.

In the Premiership, top-of-the-table side Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane (and were only able to salvage the point by virtue of a deep-into-stoppage-time goal by Carlos Tevez. Still, with Arsenal winning at Manchester City, the Red Devils relinquished first place. Third-placed Chelsea and fourth-placed Everton were also held, drawing at Portsmouth and Blackburn, respectively. This opened the door for Liverpool to close the gap with their cross-town rivals, as Rafa Benitez' side beat Sunderland at Anfield (don't be fooled by the 3-0 score, the game was far closer and Roy Keane's men had a clear penalty waved off in the middle of the second half when they were down 2-1). But Aston Villa, currently sixth, can retake fifth place by beating Fulham tomorrow (and how hard should that be? I mean seriously, Cottagers are so bad they have run out of Americans to sign and are resorting to Canadians. That just asks for relegation right there). Toward the back of the table, Wigan knocked off West Ham to move further away from the danger zone. I've been singing the praises of Steve Bruce's men for some time and they vindicated me once again today. Reading, on the other hand, look more like relegation fodder, losing at home to Bolton Wanderers today. Ouch.

Photo taken from SC-Heerenveen.nl without permission.

Saturday Soccer Summary, Jan. 5, 2008

The F.A. Cup bores me. Let's talk about Spain, which returned to league action today. In the matchday's marquee match-up, third-placed Espanyol Barcelona trounced fourth-placed Villareal, 3-0. All goals were scored in the first half, with Espanyol captain Raul Tamudo notching a brace Second-placed Barcelona saw off Mallorca on second half goals by Rafa Marquez and Samuel Eto'o. With the victory, Barca move four points behind leaders Real Madrid, who host Zaragoza tomorrow night. Espanyol put some distance between themselves and Villareal. Atletico Madrid can overtake Villareal if they win at Deportivo tomorrow.

In Portugal's bwinLIGA, fifth-placed Vitoria Setubal held second-placed Benfica to a 1-1 tie but the bigger surprise came in today's other game, between third-placed Sporting Lisbon and 10th placed Boavista Porto. Sporting went down, 2-0, and can now probably forget about whatever slim title hopes they were holding on to as they are nine points in arrears of FC Porto, who play tomorrow.

There was one game in the Greek Super League, which saw Olympiakos (Chelsea's Champions League opponent in the Round of 16) return to first place thanks to a come-from-behind win at Iraklis Saloniki.

Speaking of reclaiming first place, Glasgow Rangers did that from their friendly neighborhood colleagues Celtic today as well. Walter Smith's men saw off Dundee United 2-0 and move one point ahead of Celtic with one game in hand.

There were a ton of cup games in France but nothing very interesting (or unexpected) happened as far as I can tell. Besides, you probably don't care much about that anyway.

Brilliant Baptista Blast Beats Barca

Real Madrid pulled out a 1-0 stunner over arch rivals F.C. Barcelona on a brilliant 36th minute half-volley by Julio Baptista. Minutes earlier, Real backstop Ilker Casillas turned in a pair of acrobatic saves to keep the Spanish champs level. It was Los Blancos' first win at Camp Nou since December 2003 and gives Bernd Schuster's side a seven point lead in the Primera

Barca pushed hard in the second half but Real's defense held firm. Lionel Messi was clearly missed by the Catalan side, but Bojan Krkic's impact as a late-game substitute will have Barca fans wondering why Frank Rijkaard waited until the 82nd minute to bring the 17-year old Serbo-Catalan into the match. The victory gives Real 67 wins versus their arch-rivals' 58 in the teams' historical head-to-head tally.

Espanyol won the day's "other" Madrid-Barcelona match-up, topping Atletico Madrid 2-1 on an 86th minute goal by Luis Garcia. The win moves Espanyol into third place in La Liga, one point ahead of Villareal who tied Recreativo Huelva 1-1 earlier today. Atletico are fifth, one point behind Villareal, followed by Racing Santander, who hold the edge over seventh-placed Valencia on goal difference.

Photo was taken from elpais.com without permission.

Saturday Soccer Summary, Dec. 22, 2007

The top game on the continent was probably the Olympique Lyonnais vs. AS Nancy cracker in France's Ligue 1. The perennial French champs (what is it, five in a row now? Six?) are in their familiar first-place perch in their domestic league but have been somewhat inconsistent so far this year. They struggled to advance out of their Champions League group, needing a victory at Ibrox Park on the final match day, and have showed signs of vulnerability in France as well. Nancy, by contrast, have come out of nowhere. Three seasons ago the Lorainois were languishing in France's second division, which is so bad it probably looks Major League Soccer look downright mediocre. Nancy's top scorer is a guy called Kim who is not Korean but Brazilian (his real name is Carlos something).

So what happened in the game? The first goal wasn't scored until the 80th minute, when Czech international Milan Baros (a name Liverpool and Aston Villa fans are no doubt familiar with) struck for Lyon. But Chris Malonga notched the equalizer three minutes from time and the two sides ended up splitting the points. Lyon now have two points out of their last three Ligue Un games and take a four point lead into the league's mini-break (league games resume Jan. 12). This one isn't settled yet. The two sides meet again on the penultimate match day.

In Italy, AS Roma had a solid 2-0 victory over Sampdoria Genoa, on a brace by Francesco Totti. The win moves Roma four points behind Inter Milan, who face their cross-town rivals at the San Siro tomorrow afternoon. Unless Milan (that would be AC Milan) win the derby match, Serie A will basically be Inter's for the taking.

In Spain there were two pretty big games ahead of tomorrow's massive Real-Barca face-off at Camp Nou (actually there is another big game tomorrow, between Atletico and Espanol, the third- and fifth-placed teams, respectively). Valencia notched two goals in the last quarter hour of play to earn a point at Zaragosa and Sevilla scored an impressive 4-1 victory over sixth-placed Racing Santander (maybe not that impressive; Seville's third and fourth goals came in the last five minutes of the game when Santander were likely throwing everybody forward).

Finally, in Britain Arsenal won the London derby over Tottenham, but not without a good fight by Spurs. Fulham and Wigan tied 1-1 in the toilet bowl game, as did Aston Villa and Man. City, Liverpool returned to the winner's circle with a solid 4-1 victory over Pompey and then there were a few other games I don't care enough about to recap. In Scotland, Celtic managed a late goal to steal a point against manager-less Hibs. Celtic are still in first, but Rangers have three (count 'em, three!) games in hand over their neighbors.

Saturday Soccer Summary, Dec. 15, 2007: Few Surprises On Eve Of Big Four Showdown

There were few upsets across European leagues today as fans turned their sights to two massive Premiership showdowns and the final of the FIFA Club World Cup to be played Sunday. Okay, so maybe the Club World Cup has not received quite the same level of attention, especially in the U.K. Point is, there were not many upsets in today's games.

One surprise did come from Portugal's bwinLIGA where Benfica lost only their second game of the year. Cross-town rivals Belenensus did the honors this time as Freddy Adu was not brought on soon enough to work his magic. I can understand Jose Camacho not wanting to play Freddy from the start due to match fitness concerns or whatever, but he really should be subbing him in sooner, especially if Benfica are down a goal. Today, Freddy was the team's third substitute.

I wouldn't call this an upset, but Juventus scored an impressive away win at Lazio today on a brace by Alessandro del Piero. I say it wasn't an upset because Lazio look very much like a mid-table side (they're currently 12th in Serie A and out of the Champions League). With the win, Juve move into second place in the Italian league.

Another impressive away win was Barcelona's 3-0 triumph over Valencia this evening. Eto'o had a first half brace and Gudjohnsen added a third in the second half on a nice assist by Giovanni. Bojan Krkic also made an appearance as Frank Rijkaard was able to rest some starters. Jar Jar and Deco didn't play at all. Lionel Messi picked up a knock and was subbed out at half time (for Giovanni). I'm hearing Messi will miss a week or so. Valencia are not in good form, having collected just one point out of their last four games.

A mini-upset was the scoreless draw between Nice and Olympique Lyonnais in the French league. I don't get GolTV but was still able to watch follow most of the match online and thought Nice were the better team and unlucky to not come away with three points. Ten minutes before time Ederson struck a freekick that ricocheted off the underside of the bar and onto (but not over) the goal line.

Finally, break out Spurs! The North London side notched their first away win in impressive fashion today as Dimitar Berbatov SCORED` an 81st minute winner over Portsmouth. It was Pompey's first home defeat in 11 games this season. Juane Ramos' side have now won two Premiership games in a row, both against teams that are (much) higher up in the table than they are. This may not sound like much, but it's Tottenham's first back-to-back wins and first shutout away from home this season. Gotta start somewhere. Was this the turning point for Spurs? No. The turning point came with Ramos' arrival. The team has been playing completely different football since then, give or take the odd relapse (that home loss to Birmingham being Exhibit A).

Soccer Source Saturday Summary, Dec. 1, 2007: Gritty Gunners, Royal Raul, Pernicious Porto

The top game in La Liga was undoubtedly the Barcelona derby. Andres Iniesta struck first for Barca, but Coro equalized midway through the second half. Earlier, Real Madrid saw off seventh-placed Racing Santander at the Bernabeu. Top-of-the-table Real got a brace from Raul and didn't seem to have much trouble, winning the game 3-1. There was a third liga game today: Arsenal vanquishers Sevilla lost at UD Almeira. The Andalusian side are now 11th, having lost their last three liga games since knocking off Real Madrid Nov. 3.

Arsenal played a gritty game at Villa Park in today's top Premiership match-up, rebounding nicely from that (meaningless) Champions League loss at midweek. After going a goal down, Arsene Wenger's men outplayed their hosts in a stellar first half and then simply bunkered down in the second. Which is what you do when you get the lead on the road, especially at a place like Villa Park, where the home fans were in full-throated support. It was amazing how loud they were, even on the Fox Soccer Channel feed. The Birmingham side played well but simply couldn't get around the Arsenal bulwark in the second half.

In Italy, AC Milan and Juventus played a scoreless draw at San Siro. What's that? A scoreless game in Serie A? How could it be? It wasn't the worst nil-nil match I've seen (some are much worse than others. If you've been watching Serie A the past 40 years you should know given how numerous they've been. Sometimes I seriously think there is more scoring at a Star Trek convention for evangelicals than during your typical Serie A weekend). Both goalies played very well and Juve hit the post in the first half.

Werder Bremen have temporarily taken over first place in the Bundesliga, thanks to their victory over Hamburg SV in the "Nordderby." HSV had looked very good coming in to today, beating up on Stade Rennes in the UEFA Cup at midweek, but it unfortunately didn't carry over. Hamburg is still in third place despite the loss, one point behind Bayern Munich and three behind Werder. Bayern can--and probably will--reclaim the top spot tomorrow when they face 14th placed Arminia Bielefeld.

Finally, in Portugal FC Porto rebounded nicely from their midweek loss at Anfield (the team's first loss all season) to win on the road at Benfica, 1-0 in a game pitting the top two teams in the bwin liga against each other. Freddy Adu got into the game in the 69th minute but was unable to get the Lisbon side level. Porto now have a seven point advantage over Benfica after only 12 games.

Soccer Source Saturday Summary: Bayern, Barca Beaten, Battered

The sixth and seventh-ranked teams in Soccer Source's Top 25 both lost today, as #7 Bayern Munich finally fell from the ranks of the unbeaten and #6 Barcelona went down again on the road. The Bavarian side got clobbered at VfB Stuttgart, losing 3-1 in a game that was decided at halftime. Mario Gomez completed a brace at minute 42 to put the defending Bundesliga champs up 3-0. It was an impressive victory for Stuttgart, who have quietly charged up to eighth place in the Bundesliga. Bayern's lead is now a single point, after Werder Bremen shellacked Karlsruhe (it's pronounced Karls-rooh) 4-0. Hamburg and Schalke tied 1-1 in the other top game of the day.

Barca, ranked sixth in the top 25, also played a disappointing game at Getafe and went down 2-0. The Catalan side have not won a Liga game on the road since Sept. 29, and that was to sorry Levante, who are so terrible they're probably even worse than Derby County. It's early still, but Barca does not scare me right now.

There was one other surprise on the day: Olympiakos went down to Asteras Tripoli in the Greek Super League today. (And I thought Tripoli was in Libya?) This is the same Olympiakos whose only previous loss was at the Bernabeu Oct. 24. Will this affect Olympiakos' top 25 ranking (11th last week)? Yeah, I think so.

(Late) Soccer Source Saturday Summary: Several Top Teams Disappoint

My apologies for the dearth of posts this weekend. It was one of those rare occasions when I was preoccupied with other stuff; an engagement party yesterday, a friend visiting and several other items surrounding the NYC marathon (no I'm not running in it but thanks for thinking I could).

Anyway, the one unifying theme of yesterday's games was that several top teams turned in disappointing results. Chief among them Real Madrid, last week's #5 team in the Soccer Source Top 25 ranking of the world's best clubs. Real went down 2-0 to Sevilla, who I thought was supposed to be a team in disarray after their manager Juande Ramos jumped ship to Spurs. Maybe Real bought into that? Seville's Seydou Keita put his team up with a stunning strike 19 minutes in and Luis Fabiano doubled up two minutes later to win the game for the Rojiblancos.

#4 Bayern Munich was another other top 10 club that disappointed, playing Eintracht Frankfurt to a scoreless tie at home. At mid-week, #6 Barcelona also tied a vastly inferior opponent, playing Valladolid 1-1. As I write this, #11 Roma just gave up two second-half goals to Empoli at home. The game ended 2-2. And to think I had just started to believe in Roma...PSV Eindhoven, whom I ranked #13 last week, lost their first Eredivisie game of the season to Michael Bradley's Heerenveen. #16 Liverpool also failed to win their game at Blackburn, settling for a scoreless draw yesterday.

Last but not least, I wouldn't exactly rank this as a disappointment, but I felt Arsenal (who are supposed to be the best team in the world, according to last week's poll) were thoroughly outplayed at Emirates yesterday and probably deserved to lose. So the top 25 appears due for a major shake-up. How major? You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. There are several games still left to play today as well, including #2 Inter at #10 Juventus...

(Early) Soccer Source Saturday Summary: Chagrin For City

Heading over to the Swamp for the Red Bulls' playoff game, so I need to crank this out early. I'll have full reaction to that game later tonight. For now, let's focus on the continent: Manchester City had their arses handed to them at Stamford Bridge today. Not sure if the six goal margin is justified; Sven's men hung in there for large portions of the first half and it wasn't until the second that the floodgates opened. But I do know this: In last week's top 25 write-up, I mentioned this would be a major test for City, who are not playing in Europe this year. So consider having failed the test, Citizens. I can safely say this team does not belong amongst England's--let alone Europe's--elite. One that definitely does, however, is Manchester's other team, who put on a clinic of their own at Old Trafford today. The 4-1 dismantling of Middlesbrough was the first time in a century that the club scored four goals in four successive games. United are now top of the table, but they have played two games more than Arsenal, whom they displaced. The Gunners, by the way, face a formidable test at Anfield tomorrow and then have Man U at home Nov. 3 with a Halloween trip to Sheffield Wednesday for a Carling Cup match thrown in at midwek.

Elsewhere in Europe, the top clubs were mainly idle today. Check that. By the time of this writing, Juventus were losing to Napoli 3-1. The top game in the Bundesliga, between Werder Bremen and Schalke 04, ended 1-1. VfB Stuttgart got a much-needed victory, over Bayer Leverkusen. In Spain, Espanyol and Malaga drew 2-2. The big game is tomorrow, between Valencia and Seville. Finally, Celtic made quick work of Motherwell, winning 3-0 and cementing their hold on first place. The 'Hoops now have a three point lead over idle Rangers, who face Dundee United tomorrow. Rangers would need to win by more than four goals to dislodge Celtic.

Soccer Source Saturday Summary: Spanish Favorites Fall

Spanish rivals Real Madrid and FC Barcelona fell from the ranks of La Liga's unbeaten, succumbing to Espanyol Barcelona and Villareal, respectively. Espanyol's Raúl Tamudo scored his second big goal in a week's time. Neither loss is a major upset as both Espanyol and Villareal are top level teams this year--and both were playing at home--but I imagine there will be consequences when Soccer Source's Top 25 rankings are released Monday morning. ("Foreshadow, foreshadow, foreshadow," as my 10th grade English teacher used to say.)

Spain's was the only league that saw major upsets today. Elsewhere in Europe, top-of-the-table clubs Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Olympique Lyon and Arsenal all booked clear victories in their respective leagues. Rangers won the latest version of their friendly neighborhood competition with Celtic by three goals.

In Mexico, America continued their return to form, beating Pachuca 2-1, while Chivas yielded a last-minute equalizer to Atlante. The player who scored that goal, Alain Nkong, is a Major League Soccer castoff, if you can believe that. The Cameroonian was waived by the Colorado Rapids--twice (in 2005 and again the following year).

Speaking of MLS, guess who scored again for Benfica? That's right, Fredy Adu. His volley in the closing minutes salvaged a tie for the Lisbon side. Fredy was a second half substitute again. When is Jose Antonio Camacho finally going to start him? Thanks to Yanks Abroad for alerting me to this.

Finally, what is going on with German champions VfB Stuttgart? They had their asses handed to them today by Hamburg and have now slipped to 13th in the Bundesliga. They are dead last in their champions league group with zero wins and two losses. But they haven't only been losing to quality competition, either. Karlsruhe, Rostock and Hannover have all beaten Stuttgart over the past weeks. Figure Armin Veh to be on the short- short-list of managers whose jobs are in peril. Who will go first, him or Martin Jol? Now taking wagers...