Who has been the best performing club side in Europe during the calender year…
It’s certainly been a memorable year of football – from a dramatic Premier League title race between Manchester City and Liverpool, to Arsenal’s dramatic FA Cup triumph and Real Madrid turning on the style to win a tenth European crown.
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Below, we’ve ranked the top ten best performing sides, according to the FIFA club rankings and Purely Football. See what you make of some surprise inclusions, and exclusions here, starting with the Gunners in tenth place:
10) Arsenal
While it might feel like an eternity ago to some of us, Arsenal actually led the Premier League standings in January and February. While they fell away in the latter half of the season, they comfortably secured a top four finish and went on to win the FA Cup in May. Their form has been indifferent in their current campaign, but they’ve remained within touching distance of the Champions League spots and progressed in Europe.
9) Sevilla
One of the surprise packages of last season. In 2014 they secured 67 La Liga points, and sit sixth in the current table, just one point off the top four. In May, they won the Europa League on penalties after holding Benfica to a 0-0 draw, and they’ve coped well with the loss of key players such as Ivan Rakitic and Alberto Moreno.
8) Paris Saint Germain
PSG dominated French football once again in 2014 winning Ligue 1, League Cup and Trophée de Champions titles last season. This season has been more challenging, and they currently sit third in a congested top half of the table. But they have still won an incredible 86 points in the calender year, and are once again through in Europe.
7) Chelsea
Despite their impressive start to the current campaign, which has seen them lose just one game in all competitions, the Blues are still only good enough for seventh place. Since January they’ve picked up 81 points and reached a Champions League semi-final, but ultimately their indifferent form last season has prevented them moving higher.
6) Juventus
Juventus ran away with Serie A last year and have continued to dominate into the beginning of this season. Earning a staggering 56 league points between January and May, and 95 in the calender year. The Turin based side also made it to the semi-finals of the Europa League and fell at the Quarter-Final stage of the Coppa Italia.
5) Benfica
Benfica won a historic treble in Portugal this year taking the league, Taca de Portugal and Taca da Liga titles. They also came within a penalty shootout of adding the Europa League to their trophy haul, but eventually missed out to Sevilla. They are top of the league again this Christmas, and looking for more success.
4) Barcelona
Although 2014 has been a disappointing year for the Catalans in terms of overall success, they’ve still won plenty of games. They won no silverware in the calendar year for the first time since 2007 but still came second in the league and cup, were eliminated from the Champions in the quarter-finals, and took 78 league points.
3) Atletico Madrid
Atletico won their first league title in over two decades, and were mere moments away from also winning the Champions League, only to be denied by neighbours Real. They accumulated 81 points in the calendar year as they continue to stay in the mixer for the La Liga title this season too.
2) Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich’s domination of Germany football continued in 2014 as they racked up 89 league points across the calendar year – and that includes time off in January. They made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Champions League as well as doing a league and cup double.
1) Real Madrid
Although they missed out on any league glory they won both the Champions League and Copa Del Rey. Late last week they added to their success in the last 12 months by bringing home the Club World Cup and their performance in the league since August has been sublime; having racked up 46 points since the start of the campaign.
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