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Man Utd stands tall Champions League promises to shape Top 10
Updated: Monday November 20, 2000 5:21 PM
ATLANTA (CNNSI.com) -- Heading into the Champions League second group phase this week, English club Manchester United holds on to the No. 1 rank 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. Manchester United moved five points clear of Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday with a 1-0 victory in the Manchester derby. United, the defending English champion, plays host to Greek club Panathinaikos on Tuesday to open the Champions League round of 16. Taking sole possession of second place is Spain's Real Madrid, which won 1-0 at Villarreal on Saturday to move within a point of the Spanish Primera lead. The defending European champion kicks off the second Champions League group phase on Wednesday at Leeds United. Rising one spot to third is Valencia, which is level on points with Deportivo atop the Spanish league after a 1-1 draw at Alaves. The runner-up in last year's Champions League, Valencia plays host to Austria's Sturm Graz on Tuesday in Europe's top club tournament. Boca Juniors jumps three spots after a big 2-0 win over third-place Talleres Cordoba on Sunday in front of Diego Maradona. The defending South American champion now leads the Argentine standings with 10 wins and five draws in 15 matches. Steady at No. 5 is defending Spanish champion Deportivo La Coruna, which failed to move ahead in Spain after a 1-1 draw at Osasuna. Deportivo travels to face Paris St. Germain on Tuesday in the Champions League. Falling four spots to sixth is England's Arsenal, which fell off the pace set by Manchester United with a 2-0 loss to Everton on Saturday. The Gunners travel to Moscow for a Champions League match against Russian champion Spartak on Wednesday. Joining the list at No. 7 is Italian Serie A leader AS Roma, which earned a convincing 4-1 victory at Verona on Sunday. Roma has six wins and one draw in seven Serie A matches behind league-leading scorer Gabriel Batistuta, and it will face Germany's Hamburg SV in a UEFA Cup home-and-away tie. Dropping two ranks to eighth this week is defending Italian double winner Lazio, which is coming off a 1-1 home draw with ninth-ranked AC Milan on Saturday. In Champions League action, Lazio travels to Belgium to take on Anderlecht on Wednesday. Milan, meanwhile, is host to Turkey's Galatasaray on Tuesday. Joining the list this week at No. 10 is new German leader Bayer Leverkusen, which won 3-1 at Hamburg on Saturday. Leverkusen is matched up with AEK Athens in the second-tier UEFA Cup. Other teams receiving votes this week are Leeds (England), Anderlecht, Barcelona (Spain), Bruges (Belgium) and Hertha Berlin (Germany).
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