Week 6 Power Rankings: Europe's Top Teams

There's a single activity that we at 90min towers simply adore.

It's ranking things.

Whether it's debating Lionel Messi's eight Ballon d'Or wins or determining the best Premier League club emblem, we tremendously enjoy organising items in a neat, pleasing order.

That's precisely where the power rankings of 90min come into the picture.

In the world of football, we examine everything that's happened over the week to select the top ten European teams of the moment.

Fortuitously for us, and of course for you, this week didn't experience an international break to stir things up and plunge us into a realm of sheer monotony.

Let's check out the highlights from the sixth week of the 2023/24 power rankings.

While summarising a week's power rankings, several factors need to be considered.

Have they been consistently impressive? Does a team's league performance accurately reflect their standing in the continent as a whole? Is it entertaining to intentionally exclude a team?

Considering these factors, Newcastle, Liverpool, Sporting CP, Juventus, and PSV Eindhoven haven’t made the cut, but they're actively pushing for entry (especially PSV, who are killing it in the Netherlands).

Bayern Munich, usually a regular in Europe's top teams' list, cannot be included this week even after their recent 8-0 demolition of Darmstadt in the Bundesliga.

Although Bayern regularly racks up a high number of goals - the recent match marked their 13th time scoring four or more goals in a single game this year - they suffered a surprising defeat in the DFB-Pokal second round, losing to third-tier side Saarbrucken.

Interestingly, prime players like Manuel Neuer, Kim Min-jae, Matthijs de Ligt, Alphonso Davies, Joshua Kimmich, Leroy Sane, Thomas Muller and others played in the match and even substitutes like Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman, Jamal Musiala and Konrad Laimer played a part.

Ouch.

Meanwhile, Feyenoord suffered a 2-1 defeat to Twente in the Eredivisie, now positioning them fourth in the ranking. Simple as that.

Numerous discards and budding players from Manchester City join Girona, thanks to being a part of the City Group. This has benefited them significantly; they are currently 11 games deep into the 2023/24 La Liga season, boasting a solid record of nine wins, one draw and one loss. The latest victory came courtesy of a last-minute goal from Yangel Herrera, acquired from Manchester City.

For Manchester United supporters, it would be a dream if the prospective 25% minority investment from Sir Jim Ratcliffe in their beloved club included the potential of signing every OGC Nice player. Sir Jim's chemical giant INEOS wholly governs Nice, who are currently reigning undefeated at Ligue 1's top, even above Paris Saint-Germain. Quite an accomplishment.

Arsenal had a mixed week. They trounced Sheffield United 5-0 at Emirates Stadium. Unfortunately, Sheffield United's performance resembled a National League team more than a Premier League side. What's even worse, Arsenal followed up their victory with a lacklustre performance against West Ham in the Carabao Cup, losing 3-1. These results didn't amuse Mikel Arteta one bit.

In Italy, Inter, Juventus and AC Milan are front runners for the Serie A title. Presently, Inter leads the race, boasting eight victories this season against Jose Mourinho's Roma in addition to a flawless Champions League group stage campaign. Adding to the delight of Nerazzurri fans is the acquisition of Marcus Thuram, son of Lilian and the recent match winner, on a free transfer.

Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid is comfortably cruising in the Spanish capital, bagging six consecutive La Liga wins, comfortably seated third behind Real Madrid and Girona and ahead of Barcelona. Meanwhile, their Champions League performance has also been impressive.

Manchester City's three successive domestic losses were undoubtedly shocking. As they often do, Pep Guardiola's army of robots has managed to put those disappointments behind them. Their recent 3-0 triumph over neighbourhood rivals United didn't even break a sweat.

Some will point to the fact that Luton Town were the visitors to Villa Park last Saturday, attempting to downplay the achievements of Unai Emery's in-form side.Villa emerged 3-1 winners, that wasn't wholly unexpected. But what nobody would have expected is for them to ever go on a run of winning 12 Premier League home games in a row. That you must applaud.

Truth be told, Bayer Leverkusen didn't really do anything wrong this week. They won in the Bundesliga to remain top, and they comfortably saw off Sandhausen (take note Bayern) in the DFB-Pokal. But despite that, they still drop down a place in the power rankings because...

...of Jude Bellingham's existence, basically.A goal down in the Clasico against Barcelona with just over 20 minutes remaining, Real Madrid saw their marquee summer signing step up to the plate with a thumping effort that saw Marc-Andre ter Stegen barely sniff the ball as it passed him.The German was then scooping the ball out of his net in injury time, with Bellingham in the right place at the right time to earn Madrid victory in the biggest club game in world football.

Crystal Palace aren't the world's greatest football team, but you'd be hard pressed to find many top sides who would want to face them on their own patch, under the lights, on a Friday night.That's exactly what Premier League table-toppers Spurs had to do last week, less than four days after cruising past Fulham at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Spurs did it well too, maintaining their unbeaten start to the season under Ange Postecoglou courtesy of a gift-wrapped Joel Ward own goal and an eighth of the season for captain Son Heung-min.Seriously, how long can they keep this impressive run going for?