Man United, Chelsea rise to the top of the world heap

Welcome back to Rankings-ville. For the first time in several installments, there hasn't been any Champions League action upon which we can base our rundown. And that's good news, because it forces us all to take a more critical eye at the local competition facing the world's best clubs.

So here's a little something to chew on before we take a break for some international play next week. Personally, I'm looking forward to the enormous Belgium-D.R. Congo imperial/colonial showdown. Just kidding.

Also, for you MLS fans, we're going to take a break from this space in two weeks so the SI.com crew can blow out its coverage of America's league.

Go ahead and call us David Beckham-loving fair-weather fans if you must, but if you love MLS, you'll be psyched at what we have coming: columns, predictions, photo galleries, Q&As and the return of our weekly MLS Power Rankings.

See you back here on April 19 -- we're pretty sure these Rankings will look quite different a month from now.

Note: All rankings, records and statistics are through March 21.

World Soccer Power Rankings Rank Prev. Team 1 1 Manchester United If anyone is still questioning how much Cristiano Ronaldo means to United, they need look only as far as the Red Devils' past three matches. The Portuguese winger was involved in five of the seven goals his team scored against Bolton and in two FA Cup quarterfinal games against Middlesbrough. If Man Utd is serious (seriously insane, that is) about entertaining offers this summer, the transfer fee deserves to be one of the biggest in history. 2 3 Chelsea Now this is really getting interesting. And not just in a Spurs-fan-charging-Frank-Lampard kind of way. We've got our first 1-2 from the same league in the history of these Rankings, and it's fitting. Man Utd and Chelsea may very well go to the wire in three competitions: the English Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League. José Mourinho's team looks like it's finally starting find its form, with all the disparate parts beginning to click. I'm hoping for a heck of an ending on all fronts. 3 4 AS Roma The much-ballyhooed matchup of Serie A's top scorers last weekend was a bit of a dud, as neither Francesco Totti nor Fiorentina's Luca Toni scored in what was otherwise an exciting 0-0 draw. More disappointing is the fact that Roma failed to score for the first time in a year and couldn't take advantage of the Viola being down a man for most of the match. Still, the Giallorossi have an 11-point cushion in second place. 4 5 Inter Milan All's well back in Serie A, where Inter has returned to the comforts of bashing its own league after its disappointing exit in the Champions League. But there's just too much nonsense going on off the field, which is typical Inter: 1) The club is still appealing the various punishments passed down from the dust-up with Valencia; 2) ridiculous rumors have surfaced that the club is going to bid oodles for Chelsea/England captain John Terry; and 3) Adriano is in hot water again, this time for a nightclub fight with Rolando Howell, a former University of South Carolina big man currently playing hoops in Italy. I think it's finally time to cut ties with The Emperor, which looks far more likely than Terry ever donning the Nerazzurri jersey. 5 2 Valencia Is it fair to dock Valencia a few spots for its (mostly) B-team nearly blowing a big lead in a friendly against the Colorado Rapids? Of course not, but come on, this is an American Web site -- we had to at least mention it. (Speaking of which, the lousy turnout at that one made the Mestalla look emptier than Giants Stadium for a MetroStars-Wizards game, circa 1999). But we are dropping Los Che for falling behind the pace in La Liga with a draw to Osasuna and a loss to Racing Santander. And the karma from the David Navarro-Inter brawl continues to leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth. 6 7 Sevilla Anyone who's a regular here knows we love scoring keepers at the Rankings, so let's give it up to Andrés Palop, who netted the injury-time equalizer in Sevilla's thrilling comeback over Shakhtar Donetsk in UEFA Cup play. (By the way, whose keeper goal was better last week? Palop's? Or this one by Paul Robinson of Tottenham, Sevilla's next opponent?) Palop's heroics aside, the defending UEFA Cup champs look like they have their confidence back, and are also still in the running for the Spanish-league title and the Copa del Rey. 7 6 Olympique Lyon Les Gones have salvaged the smallest bit pride after their Champions League elimination, and are now focused on winning a sixth-straight French-league title and their first Coupe de la Ligue in six years. But adding insult to injury is the fact that Lens and PSG were bounced from the UEFA Cup last week, eliminating all French clubs from European competitions. That says very little for the quality of the teams Lyon is beating up week after week in Ligue 1. 8 -- FC Barcelona I gotta admit, I'm slightly annoyed with my SI.com colleague and friend Greg Lalas, who praised Santos' beautiful play on Monday and stole my thunder -- I was hoping to make waves by putting the Peixe back on here. But it might be for the best, since we really can't ignore Barça, which has played some excellent rebound soccer over the past two weeks. The Blaugrana's stirring come-from-behind draw vs. Real Madrid is easily their game of the season, and it's been a joy to see Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi re-emerge. A third-straight league title and perhaps a first Copa del Rey since '98 don't seem like bad consolation prizes. 9 8 São Paulo Speaking of scoring keepers, what's this? One of the Rankings' favorite players, Rogério Ceni, actually missing a penalty kick at Necaxa? Such a rare occurrence can only mean São Paulo must have lost. The 2-1 setback in Copa Libertadores play wasn't only the Tricolor Paulista's first of the season, it was their first defeat in 29 matches. Interesting that both of last year's Libertadores finalists have started muito slow in the competition. But unlike defending champ Internacional, São Paulo's situation isn't quite dire yet. 10 9 Liverpool Not much to say about the Reds' on-field action, since the only match they played since the last time we checked in was a scoreless draw at Aston Villa. Not good, since the 'Pool missed a golden chance to gain some ground on third-place Arsenal. What is kind of interesting is that Rafa Benítez voiced his desire to have Premiership clubs' reserve teams play in the English league structure, a system el jefe's native Spain has in place. Benítez joins Chelsea's Mourinho with his call, which makes two awfully strong voices in English football in agreement on an idea many traditionalists are writing off as ill-conceived. Honorable mentions: Santos, Werder Bremen, FC Porto, Benfica, PSV Eindhoven Dropped off: PSV Eindhoven