The 50 Greatest European Club Sides of All Time

http://footballpantheon.com/2011/05/the-50-greatest-european-club-sides/1/

I think it's a fair list. You can read through it or go to the last page for the quick list.

Rei linked this before. Silly SBSP has Dena-itis.

When?

In that football media thread I think.

The was a list of the 30 best international sides was released today by the same website.

The Polish team from the 70's came in at 28. Looks like Polska wasn't talking bs, Poland were actually good at one point in history.

Well then there's no thread on it.

Rank Team Points Country
1 Ajax 1965-73 1575 Netherlands
2 Real Madrid 1953-60 1470 Spain
3 Liverpool 1977-84 1300 England
4 Barcelona 2008-11 1275 Spain
5 Bayern Munich 1971-76 1260 Germany
6 Benfica 1959-68 1165 Portugal
7 Inter Milan 1962-67 1145 Italy
8 Celtic 1966-75 1140 Scotland
9 AC Milan 1991-95 1135 Italy
10 Torino 1945-49 1110 Italy
11 Manchester United 2006-09 1095 England
12 Barcelona 1988-94 1085 Spain
13 Juventus 1976-86 1070 Italy
14 Ajax 1993-96 1065 Netherlands
15 Bayern Munich 1998-2003 1055 Germany
16 AC Milan 1987-90 1050 Italy
17 Juventus 1994-98 1045 Italy
18 Hamburg 1978-83 1030 Germany
19 Marseille 1988-93 1020 France
20 Manchester United 1998-2001 1015 England
21 Inter 2008-10 1010 Italy
22 Real Madrid 1964-69 1005 Spain
23 Real Madrid 1985-90 1000 Spain
24 Red Star Belgrade 1987-92 995 Serbia
25 Barcelona 2004-06 985 Spain
26 Barcelona 1958-61 980 Spain
27 Juventus 1930-35 970 Italy
28 Nottingham Forest 1977-80 965 England
29 Steaua Bucharest 1985-89 960 Romania
30 FC Porto 2002-04 955 Portugal
31 Feyenoord 1968-74 945 Netherlands
32 PSV Eindhoven 1985-89 930 Netherlands
33 Real Madrid 1960-64 925 Spain
34 Borussia Monchengladbach 1969-78 915 Germany
35 Real Madrid 1996-2003 905 Spain
36 St Etienne 1973-76 890 France
37 Barcelona 1950-54 880 Spain
38 Chelsea 2004-07 860 England
39 Liverpool 1985-90 845 England
40 Bayern Munich 1984-90 840 Germany
41 Manchester United 1964-68 835 England
42 Real Madrid 1977-81 830 Spain
43 Milan 2002-07 825 Italy
44 Aston Villa 1893-1900 820 England
45 FC Porto 1984-87 810 Portugal
46 Preston 1888-92 805 England
47 Arsenal 2001-05 780 England
48 Stade Reims 1952-59 770 France
49 Tottenham 1960-63 765 England
50 Milan 1954-59 755 Italy

The Liverpool team of 1985-1990 should be higher than 38 in my opinion and the Chelsea team from 04-07 is one place higher at 37, quite baffling actually. I'll have a proper through read though in a minute and check how the points work and stuff.

But that Liverpool team from 86-88 was one of the best footballing sides in the history of the game.

1st and 14th

Not a fan of Cruyff and his gigantic ego, i think if not for that ego the Barcelona dream team of the 90s would be as high as the Ajax of the 70s when he was playing himself.

11th. Not bad.

Fuck Celtic's record in the 60s, and Ajax's in the 70s as well.

i was expect iffhs type list or something from extremely reputable from big sources in a collective format, but then i search for qualifications of the author(miguel delaney) and he is current unemployed and his last form of imployment was local newspaper in ireland

im disapointed

Fuck off... What about the Gornik and Ruch teams of the 60's and 70's?

49th!

I think this deserves to be on the front page.

I understand there is a system behind this but I wouldn't agree with us being 47th. I guess not dominating in Europe cost us in the points system.

Behind Chelsea

Oh come on what the fuck

Because it's not out of the ordinary that we were better?

I mean, we did knock you out as well.

You shouldn't get too upset over those rankings man, it's just the opinion of one guy on his own personal blog. I saw it posted on another forum i post on a few days ago. A rankings by a mass football network or organization by l'equipe for example could bring completely different results as it would be polled by multiple examiners, and not just the one guy..in this case, some dude from Ireland.

If i created my own blog and made my own top 50, it would be interesting if I could get that much attention

luke. wrote:Because it's not out of the ordinary that we were better?

I mean, we did knock you out as well.

If you compare the starting XI's by player quality, Arsenal would be ahead of Chelsea imo.

Steadman wrote:

luke. wrote:Because it's not out of the ordinary that we were better?

I mean, we did knock you out as well.

If you compare the starting XI's by player quality, Arsenal would be ahead of Chelsea imo.

That doesn't make you a better team, just a group of better players on paper.

Mourinho's teams are usually more driven by mentality then pure talent.

#30 should be ranked higher.

luke. wrote:

Steadman wrote:

luke. wrote:Because it's not out of the ordinary that we were better?

I mean, we did knock you out as well.

If you compare the starting XI's by player quality, Arsenal would be ahead of Chelsea imo.

That doesn't make you a better team, just a group of better players on paper.

Mourinho's teams are usually more driven by mentality then pure talent.

While that may be true, and I have to admit you did have the better manager, I still would rank Arsenal's invincibles above Chelsea's team under Mourinho.

The guy's a fool, if he's going by trophies Arsenal have more in the 5 years and were unbeatable for a season. There's no logic to being 9 places below Chelsea, very ignorant indeed

If English clubs were allowed in Europe, Liverpool's 1985-90 side would have been in the top 5.

Fonseca wrote:The guy's a fool, if he's going by trophies Arsenal have more in the 5 years and were unbeatable for a season. There's no logic to being 9 places below Chelsea, very ignorant indeed

Unbeaten in the LEAGUE only. Not in any other competition.

Luke, come off it.

The invincibles were a machine. Definitely better than the Chelsea side under Mourinho.

luke. wrote:

Fonseca wrote:The guy's a fool, if he's going by trophies Arsenal have more in the 5 years and were unbeatable for a season. There's no logic to being 9 places below Chelsea, very ignorant indeed

Unbeaten in the LEAGUE only. Not in any other competition.

Wow Luke, I didn't know that... You know more about Arsenal than I do

38. Chelsea 2004-07

Points: 860

The best team never to win the Champions League? A few sides below might take issue with that as well as Jose Mourinho’s ways of doing things. But there’s no debating his record in English football. The Portuguese raised the bar to unseen and still-unmatched levels in the Premier League. Chelsea’s totals in 2004-05 and 2005-06 constitute the highest points-per-game averages in the history of the English game. The biggest compliment that can be paid to him is that, essentially, he ensured you dare not make more than one error if you had any notions of winning the league.

At times, Chelsea were utterly relentless. But, crucially, not invincible. For all of the highly personal battles that Mourinho won, he ultimately lost three times to his Bete Noirs in the competition he wanted most: twice in the Champions League semi-finals to Rafa Benitez, once in the last 16 to Barcelona. All in acrimonious circumstances.

That, of course, is exactly how you could describe Mourinho’s departure. It may have provided some vindication that they got to the final later that season. But Chelsea’s failure to win the Champions League still stands against an otherwise intimidating team.

Trophies won: English league 2005, 2006; FA Cup 2007; English league cup 2005, 2007
Managers: Jose Mourinho
Best XI: Cech; Ferreira, Gallas, Carvalho, Terry; Makelele, Lampard, Essien; Robben, Duff, Drogba


47. Arsenal 2001-05

Points: 780

Always irresistible, sometimes incisive and – for a season – invincible. Arsenal’s unbeaten 2003-04 campaign ensures their place in history, with the difficulty of that feat a perfect complement to the occasionally unbelievable angles of their passing. It was also Arsene Wenger’s undoubted career high-point. Appropriately though, it emphasised his extremes as a manager too. For a start, the team’s cycle was bookended by two very contrasting summers. In 2001, Wenger embarked on an untypical spending spree. In 2005, Patrick Vieira departed while complaining of a dearth of world-class signings.

In between, Arsenal’s exquisite football regularly reached that status – most of all Thierry Henry. They were particularly brilliant in the 2001-02 run-in that secured a double as well as the start of the 2002-03 campaign, with the team’s own climax coming in the 5-1 win at Inter Milan in the 2003-04 Champions League. That should have signalled a successful assault on the Champions League. Instead, it only highlights the greatest mark against them: that nucleus of players never got beyond the quarter-finals.

What’s worse, they were eliminated by a team they had routinely dismissed at home. Throughout the 2003-04 campaign, Arsenal had beaten Chelsea 2-1 three times across the league and FA Cup. At Highbury and in the competition that has always eluded Wenger, however, they were undone by that same score. And that failure to beat an English team again spoke of another major flaw: they never retained the title.

A divine team, but never a truly dominant one.

Trophies won: English league 2002, 2004; FA Cup 2002, 2003, 2005
Manager: Arsene Wenger
Best XI: Lehmann; Lauren, Cole, Campbell, Toure; Gilberto, Vieira, Ljungberg, Pires; Bergkamp, Henry
_________________________________

Perhaps you should look at his reasoning before calling him an idiot and dismissing his claim based on numbers on a list.

Invincibles were better by distance in my opinion.