Milan in fashion

European champion finishes season at No. 1

Rankings for July 7
Rk.	Team	Country	Pts.
1 (1)	AC Milan	Italy	115
2 (2)	Juventus	Italy	88
3 (3)	Real Madrid	Spain	87
4 (6)	Boca Juniors	Argentina	84
5 (5)	Manchester United	England	55
6 (4)	Porto	Portugal	46
7 (10)	Santos	Brazil	42
8 (7)	River Plate	Argentina	39
9 (8)	Bayern Munich	Germany	19
10 (nr)	Inter Milan	Italy	18
Dropped out: Real Sociedad. Others receiving votes: Cruzeiro, Arsenal, Real Sociedad, Besiktas, PSV Eindhoven.
One to Watch
Each week, voters spotlight a football club that deserves a mention. This week's team is ... Manchester United. By United's standards fifth place on the Top 10 represents underachievement. The Red Devils may have regained the Premier League title from Arsenal but they looked out of their depth in their Champions League quarterfinal exit against Real Madrid. The loss of David Beckham to the Spanish giant appears to be another blow to United's prestige. But Sir Alex Ferguson has cash to spend: Cameroon midfielder Eric Djemba Djemba has already arrived from Nantes while Brazilian forward Ronaldinho appears to be the club's main target. But can United recover from the loss of its biggest star to one of its biggest international rivals?
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Ok. Now that is over. The fifth Libertadores is ours. Would you place Boca Jrs. where it deserves to be? Jorge, Buenos Aires It is so obvious that the greatest club team in the world wears white and are called Real Madrid. Hence they should be sitting pretty at the top of the CNN/World Soccer Top 10 and with the arrival of Beckham they are very close to becoming the perfect "SUPERTEAM". The last ingredient in this mixture of stars should be Lucio (Bayer Leverkusen) or Christian Chivu(Ajax) Francis, London For more reactions...
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LONDON (SI.com) -- AC Milan stayed at No. 1 for the sixth week in a row in the final CNN/World Soccer Top 10 of the season.

The European champion and Italian Cup winner has topped the standings since beating Juventus on penalties in the Champions League final in Manchester on May 28.

Serie A champion Juve continued to trail its domestic rival at No.2 but the Turin side did manage to stay just ahead of Spanish champion Real Madrid which finished the season at No. 3.

Boca Juniors climbed two places to No. 4 following its Copa Libertadores triumph on Wednesday, finishing the season as the highest South American representative on the Top 10.

The Argentine powerhouse won the continental title for the third time in four years and the fifth time overall with a 3-1 win at Brazilian side Santos in the second leg of the final.

Nineteen-year-old striker Carlos Tevez effectively finished the tie when he put Boca, which already held a 2-0 advantage from the first leg in Buenos Aires, ahead on 21 minutes. A brilliantly taken goal from Marcelo Delgado, his ninth of the championship, and Rolando Schiavi’s late penalty completed the scoring.

On Sunday Boca opted to send a youth team to Rosario Central for its final match of the Argentine Clausura championship while the first team and coach Carlos Bianchi completed a lap of honour in front of 40,000 fans at the Bombonera. Even a 7-2 loss didn’t dampen the celebrations.

English champion Manchester United stayed at No. 5 while Portuguese champion and UEFA Cup winner Porto fell two places to No. 6.

Despite defeat by Boca in its first Copa Libertadores final since 1963, Brazilian side Santos climbed three places to No. 7 thanks to its impressive domestic form.

Pele’s former club moved up to second in the Brazilian championship on Sunday with a 3-1 win over Coritiba. Even with six first-team players rested, Emerson Leao’s side proved too strong with Jerri, Fabiano and Preto finding the target. The defending Brazilian champion now trails leader Cruzeiro by just one point.

Like archrival Boca, River Plate was more focused on the end-of-season celebrations than its final match against River Club on Sunday, having wrapping up the Clausura title last weekend. After completing a lap of honor in front of 60,000 River slumped to a 3-1 defeat, dropping one place on the Top 10 to No. 8.

German double winner Bayern Munich end the season down one place from last week at No. 9.

Italian runner-up and Champions League semifinalist Inter Milan made a late return to the list at No. 10.

Dropping off this week was Real Sociedad.

Others receiving votes were Cruzeiro, Arsenal, Real Sociedad, Besiktas and PSV Eindhoven.

The CNN/World Soccer Top 10 is a unique ranking of football clubs determined each Monday through voting by correspondents from CNN Sports and World Soccer magazine.

CNNSI.com wire services contributed to this report.

 

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