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Back on top Real Madrid bumps Man Utd from No. 1 ranking
ATLANTA (CNNSI.com) -- After a one-week drop, Spanish giant Real Madrid returns to the No. 1 ranking in the CNN/World Soccer Top 10, the unique ranking of football clubs determined each Monday through voting by correspondents from CNN Sports and World Soccer magazine. Reigning Champions League winner Real Madrid dropped to fourth place last week after having to scramble to rescue two draws in domestic and European action. Ahead of this week's showdown with Bayer Leverkusen, Madrid trounced Athletic Bilbao 4-1 and defeated Spartak Moscow 1-0 in the Champions League. Dropping one spot into second is England's Manchester United, which was held to a 3-3 draw at home by Chelsea, which was playing its first game under new manager Claudio Ranieri. In the Champions League, United drew 0-0 at Dynamo Kiev last week, and this week travels to the Netherlands to face PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday. Also falling one spot this week is third-place team Lazio, last year's Italian league and cup champions. With the start of the Italian Serie A season delayed a month by the Olympics, Lazio kicks off the defense of its crown this Sunday against Atalanta. Already, Lazio has cruised into the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup. In the Champions League, Lazio slammed Sparta Prague 3-0 and travels to face England's Arsenal on Wednesday. Down from third to fourth is German double champion Bayern Munich, despite wins in the Bundesliga (2-1 over FC Cologne 2-1) and in Europe, 3-1 over Norwegian champion Rosenborg Trondheim. This week in the Champions League, Bayern travels to face Paris St. Germain. Fifth-place Boca Juniors of Argentina, the reigning Copa Libertadores champion, rises one rank after beating Huracan to go level with River Plate atop the Argentine standings and tying FIFA's club world champion Corinthians in the Copa Mercosur. Argentine co-leader River Plate jumps two spots to sixth after drawing Velez Sarsfeld in the Copa Mercosur and drawing San Lorenzo 2-2 in domestic action. Spanish powerhouse Barcelona stays steady at seventh after defeating Racing Santander 3-1 on a league contest and losing to Turkey's Besiktas 3-0 in the Champions League. Barcelona is set for a high-profile Champions League match on Tuesday at home against Italian powerhouse AC Milan -- the only team to drop out of the CNN/World Soccer Top 10 this week, after losing to England's Leeds in European action. Taking AC Milan's place on the list this week is Paris St. German, which joins at No. 8 after trouncing Sweden's Helsingborg 4-1 in the Champions League and going to the top of the French league table with a 2-1 win over Nantes. This week's home contest against Bayern Munich should prove more difficult. Spain's Valencia rises one spot to ninth after a successful week that saw last season's Champions League runner-up defeat Numancia 3-0 in league action and Hereenven of the Netherlands 1-0 in Europe. Valencia hosts Olympique Lyon this week in Champions League Group C action. This week's largest decline goes to Galatasaray, which last season went home with the domestic league and cup titles, to go with the UEFA Cup -- the first major European title ever won by a Turkish club. Galatasaray drops from fifth to 10th after losing 3-0 last week in the Champions League to Austria's Sturm Graz, and drawing Istanbulspor 1-1 in league action. Other teams receiving votes this week include Spain's Deportivo, Scotland's Rangers, Arsenal, and two clubs from Brazil -- Goias and Fluminense.
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