The Weekly Take, Issue 368: There Are (Still) Levels to This

Heading into the Club World Cup round of 16 match between Benfica and Chelsea, some had claimed that this match was a genuine opportunity for Benfica to pick up an upset win over their English opponents and advance to the tournament quarterfinals.

Considering the fact that Benfica were in good form heading into the knockout stage and coming off an impressive win over Bayern Munich while Chelsea looked rather pedestrian throughout the group stage, it really did seem as though the Portuguese club did, in fact, have a puncher’s chance to score their second straight underdog victory en route to the last eight.

Although Chelsea had the bulk of the possession and the clear majority of the goalscoring chances, they weren’t able to turn these advantages into actual results on the scoreboard in the first half. It wasn’t until the 64th minute when Reece James buried a free kick in the bottom corner of the net. However, the biggest twist of all was yet to come.

Shortly after stoppage time began, the match was paused due to the risk of lightning at the Bank of America Stadium. Play would not resume until two hours later - and shortly after the action resumed, Benfica earned a penalty. Chelsea full-back Malo Gusto was found to have committed a handball off Benfica centre-back Nicolás Otamendi’s header. Benfica’s veteran winger Ángel Di María, who had previously confirmed that he would be leaving the club after the tournament to return to his hometown club Rosario Central, converted from the spot to send the match to extra time.

However, that would be as far as Benfica would get; Chelsea would take over in extra time. Goals scored by Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall ensured that the Blues would make it to the quarterfinals with a 4-1 victory - though to be fair to Benfica, it was a scoreline that gave the impression that the match was more lop-sided than it really was.

That being said, the clear take-away from the match was this: the gap between the elite European leagues and the rest has never been more obvious. Excluding Paris Saint-Germain’s victory this season - an outlier due to the club’s enormous financial resources - no club from outside Spain, Italy, England, or Germany has won the Champions League since Porto in 2004; there almost certainly never will again with the possible exception of PSG.

Due to current league revenue trends, this disparity is certain to grow as time passes. The share of total revenue with the European professional football system that these top leagues take up has been increasing and with the compounding effect that this increased revenue allows to happen by facilitating broadcasting rights and branding as well as drawing in the best players who seek the big money at an elite club, among other things, the leading leagues’ portion will further increase.

The reality is this: at this point there’s almost nothing that the rest of the clubs outside the biggest leagues can really do anymore. It’s almost a guarantee that as soon as a superstar emerges in one of those lesser leagues, the player in question will soon be signed by a club from one of the top leagues.

So what’s the solution at this point? Frankly, there isn’t really a simple answer. That said, tournaments like this revamped Club World Cup would be a good start - these competitions award much money to even teams who don’t get all that far into the tournament, giving these clubs from lesser leagues a much-welcomed financial boost.

It might also be time for UEFA to look into restructuring how the Champions League’s revenue distributions are set up. By doing so, the disparity between clubs from the leading leagues and the rest could potentially be reduced to some extent.

Finally - and this is admittedly a radical proposal which I’m honestly on the fence over - would barring teams from the strongest leagues from entry into the Europa League and Conference League be an effective step? This way, teams from the weaker leagues would not only accumulate more tournament revenue, but also have more of a platform to showcase what they’re truly capable of - and perhaps eventually paving the way for these clubs to land lucrative sponsorship or other financial deals.

The Weekly Take, Issue 367: The Early Signs Aren't Promising

Chelsea entered the Club World Cup eager to follow up on a strong finish to the season which saw the London club clinch qualification for next season’s Champions League before beating Real Betis in the final of the Conference League. However, their match against Flamengo during the group stage’s second matchday showed that despite being the clear favourites to advance from Group D, it was never going to be “as simple as that”.

Chelsea succumbed to a 3-1 loss against Flamengo at Lincoln Financial Field. Although Pedro Neto opened the scoring for the Blues in the 13th minute, that would end up being as good as things would get for Chelsea. From that point forth, Flamengo took control of the match and were rather unlucky not to enter the half-time interval on level terms.

This would change after the break. Just seven minutes after replacing midfielder Giorgian De Arrascaeta, Bruno Henrique scored Flamengo’s equalizer to start what would be a frenetic next six minutes. Three minutes later, Henrique would set up Flamengo’s second goal scored by centre-back Danilo. To make matters worse for Chelsea, just three minutes after Flamengo’s second goal, Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson received a red card after a severe foul on Flamengo full-back Ayrton Lucas. The Senegalese striker had barely spent any time on the field at the time as he had replaced Liam Delap slightly over four minutes before the incident.

In the 85th minute, Flamengo closed the door on Chelsea for good. Substitute Wallace Yan scored the Brazilian club’s winning goal to ensure a spot in the round of 16 and leave Chelsea needing to avoid defeat against Tunisian side Espérance Tunis to make it to the last 16. While theoretically that shouldn’t be too difficult, the fact that things have played out in this way spotlight several key issues for Chelsea.

In both matches so far, new signing Delap hasn’t looked impressive at all. Though it’s of course way too early to come to a conclusion, Chelsea’s new acquisition from Ipswich Town certainly has not appeared to live up to the £30 million price tag that he was signed for. What makes matters worse is the fact that Delap wears perhaps the most “cursed” jersey in world football - the Chelsea 9.

Over the past two decades or so, striker after striker (and even some non-strikers) have put on the Chelsea 9; every single one has ended up failing to fulfill the expectations. Considering the fact that this is a monumental step up for Delap - though he has played for Manchester City before, he hardly ever received any playing time while there - it’s certainly possible that he’ll end up adding his name to the infamous list.

It’s also notable that Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca chose to switch things up tactically, going with a 4-3-3 formation instead of the usual 4-2-3-1 and starting superstar attacking midfielder Cole Palmer at right wing instead of his usual preferred spot. This change didn’t help at all - Chelsea’s attacking unit, including Palmer, looked disjointed and out of sync throughout the whole match with the exception of Portuguese winger Neto. It’s clear that this was an example of “trying to fix something that didn’t need to be fixed”. Maresca needs to switch back to the usual 4-2-3-1 if Chelsea are to make a serious run at the Club World Cup title.

Of course, many will make the point about how Chelsea, like other European clubs, aren’t as acclimatized to the conditions as their South American counterparts as well as the fact that they’ve accumulated more fatigue as they are playing after a long season rather than in the mid-season like the South American clubs. While true, the gap between Chelsea and Flamengo should have been large enough that neither should have been a serious factor in what ought to have been a routine victory for Chelsea. In addition, with regard to acclimatization, by this point they ought to have become accustomed to the conditions - after all, this match was from the second matchday.

For what it’s worth, Chelsea, as mentioned, are very likely to advance to the last 16 as their final group stage opponent isn’t a particularly difficult one. However, based on what Chelsea showed against Flamengo, in this form even what should be an easy win isn’t as guaranteed as it perhaps should be.

The Weekly Take, Issue 366: End-of-Season Special: Top 10 Moments of the Season

The 2024-25 European club football season has now wrapped up, so let's now take a look back at some of the standout highlights during it.

Kylian Mbappé signs for Real Madrid (June 3, 2024)

After years of speculation surrounding a possible move from Paris Saint-Germain to Real, Kylian Mbappé confirmed that he would be signing for Real near the end of the 2023-24 season. Not long after Real closed out the season by winning the Champions League for a record-extending 15th time, Mbappé made his move to the Santiago Bernabéu official.

Despite a slow start to the season, Mbappé soon found the level of form that justified the hype behind his arrival at Real. The French striker would go on to win the European Golden Shoe with 31 league goals; however, in spite of his success on the individual front, Real would finish the season without any titles after losing La Liga and the Copa del Rey to arch-rivals Barcelona; they were also knocked out of the Champions League in the quarterfinals against Arsenal.

Antonio Conte takes over at Napoli (June 5, 2024)

After a feeble attempt at a Serie A title defense in the 2023-24 season which saw Napoli finish just 10th. It was a turbulent season which saw three different head coaches spend time in the dugout at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. In response, yet another change was made heading into the 2024-25 season with Antonio Conte taking over.

Conte proved that his difficult stint at Tottenham Hotspur - his most recent position prior to Napoli - was an outlier in what has been a highly decorated career. With Conte at the helm, Napoli reclaimed the Scudetto, beating Inter to the title by two points. It was Conte’s fifth Serie A title as a coach and sixth overall across major European leagues.

Manchester City 2-2 Arsenal (September 22, 2024)

This ended up being more than just an early-season clash between two Premier League title contenders. By far the biggest story of the match wasn’t the result itself; it was the fact that City’s superstar defensive midfielder Rodri - about to be the newly-minted Ballon d’Or winner - tore his ACL and would go on to miss almost the entirety of the rest of the season, only returning during the very last matchday.

Rodri’s absence completely derailed City’s season. Following this match, the Citizens were nowhere near the level they were capable of playing at for the remainder of the campaign. City finished the season without a trophy for the first time in eight years.

Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona (October 27, 2024)

Despite being relatively early in the season, this particular iteration of El Clásico ended up setting the tone for how things would eventually play out. In an absolutely dominant showing, Barça took Real apart at the Santiago Bernabéu. Not even for a moment did Real even appear to pose anything resembling a threat to Barça.

This victory as well as Barça’s subsequent win in the reverse fixture later in the season proved to be crucial to the league title race; Barça would go on to win La Liga ahead of Real by four points. Barça would also beat Real in the Copa del Rey final to clinch a domestic double while Real would finish the season empty-handed.

Khvicha Kvaratshkelia signs for Paris Saint-Germain (January 17, 2025)

Throughout the first half of the season, “Kvara” had not only unquestionably been Napoli’s best player; the Georgian was also arguably the best player in Serie A. As such, his mid-season switch to PSG for €70 million was the clear highlight of the January transfer window.

Kvaratshkelia’s impact in the French capital was almost immediate; in addition to helping them clinch a domestic league title against, to be quite frank, vastly inferior opposition, Kvaratshkelia played a vital role in bringing PSG the club’s first-ever Champions League title and by doing so, made himself one of the leading candidates to win the Ballon d’Or.

Kevin De Bruyne announces departure from Manchester City (April 4, 2025)

The greatest player to ever put on a City jersey called time on a spectacular decade-long stint at the Etihad Stadium. Over 10 years, De Bruyne played over 400 matches for City and established himself as one of the greatest midfielders of all time. He was twice named Premier League Player of the Season and was a perennial Ballon d’Or candidate in his prime.

De Bruyne, who has now left City for reigning Serie A champions Napoli, will be honoured with a statue in front of the Etihad; he will become the seventh City player to be immortalized with one. There’s a strong case to be made that De Bruyne isn’t just City’s and Belgium’s GOAT - he’s arguably the greatest player of the modern era of English club football which started in 1992-93.

Inter Milan 4-3 Barcelona (May 7, 2025)

This Champions League semifinal’s second leg was match of the season without any question whatsoever. Following a 3-3 first leg in Catalonia, a spot in the final hung in the balance. Although Barça had the bulk of the goalscoring chances and the vast majority of the possession, Inter went into half-time with a 2-0 lead on the night and thus a 5-3 aggregate lead.

Astonishingly, Barça turned it around and after the 87th minute, the Blaugrana led 3-2 and were in position to make the Champions League final for the first time in a decade. Despite this, the most stunning twist was to come - Francesco Acerbi scored Inter’s equalizer in stoppage time before Davide Frattesi’s extra-time winner put Inter in the final for the second time in three seasons.

Luka Modrić announces departure from Real Madrid (May 22, 2025)

Not long after De Bruyne’s announcement, Modrić would do likewise, bringing down the curtain on a 13-year stint at Real. During his time at Real, the legendary Croatian midfielder not only broke the Ballon d’Or duopoly of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018; he also won a joint-record six Champions League titles alongside teammates Nacho and Dani Carvajal.

Modrić will make his decision on his next club after the Club World Cup - assuming he doesn’t choose to retire at the age of 40. So impressive was Modrić’s career at Real that when he was substituted in his final match for the club, he received a guard of honour not only from his own teammates, but also those of opponents Real Sociedad; a fittingly remarkable tribute for an even more remarkable player.

Napoli 2-0 Cagliari (May 24, 2025)

By far the most compelling of the league title races among the major European leagues this season was Serie A’s. Napoli and Inter headed into the final matchday with a chance at the Scudetto; Napoli led by one point which meant that all they needed to do to win the league for the second time in three seasons was to beat Cagliari at home.

Napoli duly did so, beating their Sardinian opponents 2-0 to win the league for the fourth time in club history - especially impressive considering Kvaratshkelia’s aforementioned mid-season departure to PSG. Even after his departure, Napoli didn’t miss a beat with the rest of the squad stepping up to fill the void; midfielder Scott McTominay was also named Serie A’s Player of the Season.

Paris Saint-Germain 5-0 Inter Milan (June 1, 2025)

PSG could not have secured their first-ever Champions League title and smashed their seemingly perpetual “Champions League curse” in a more stunning fashion. It was the largest margin of victory in the final in the entire history of the tournament dating back almost seven decades.

Inter never stood a chance as PSG dominated the match right from opening kick-off and never looked back. In one glorious evening, the Parisian club banished every demon that had ever afflicted them over their years of struggles on European football’s biggest stage and completed a remarkable turnaround even in the same season, going from almost being eliminated in the league phase to winning it all.

The Weekly Take, Issue 365: A Statement Performance - But Not the One Most Were Expecting

Regardless of the result of the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League final, one thing would be certain: whichever team would come out on top would become the first-ever team to win multiple editions of the tournament. The final was an Iberian derby pitting 2019 champions Portugal against reigning European champions Spain who were also targeting back-to-back Nations League titles.

Right from the start, Spain had the majority of the possession and thus goalscoring chances—and they took advantage of this by scoring first. Real Sociedad midfielder Martín Zubimendi opened the scoring for La Furia Roja in the 21st minute. However, this lead didn’t last long as just five minutes later, Paris Saint-Germain left-back Nuno Mendes scored Portugal’s equalizer after having been set up by Pedro Neto. Spain continued to push and regained the lead shortly before half-time with Mikel Oyarzabal getting on the scoresheet.

Then, in the 61st minute, in what almost felt like a scripted moment, Cristiano Ronaldo turned back the clock to score his record-extending 138th career international goal. Neither side could find the net after that; as such, the match went to extra time which also failed to yield a winner.

Thus, for the second Nations League final in a row, the title would be decided via penalty shootout. After Portugal’s first four and Spain’s first three penalty takers connected with their attempts, Spain’s veteran striker Álvaro Morata stepped forward for his team’s fourth penalty. However, Morata would be denied by Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa, giving Rúben Neves the chance to clinch the title for Portugal. Neves converted his penalty to clinch Portugal’s second Nations League championship.

This match marked the last chance for certain players to make a final push for Ballon d’Or votes for this season - in particular Lamine Yamal. Having already put together an outstanding individual season with just the Champions League title eluding him, the Barcelona winger had a second chance to impress voters with another dominant showing in the final.

Instead, Yamal was outplayed by a player who put in a statement performance of his own. Mendes did so much more than just score Portugal’s first goal - he kept Yamal quiet throughout the vast majority of the match and thus neutralized Spain’s primary attacking threat and clear best player. Mendes wasn’t done at the end of extra time, either; he went on to net a penalty for Portugal during the shootout.

Even Mendes’ yellow card can be regarded as a point in his favor because he got it after a scuffle with Spain’s Álex Baena. This is because through the incident, Mendes showed his teammates that he would not be intimidated by the opposition - and that likely gave them a morale boost.

Before the final, Mendes was already regarded as the world’s best left-back at just 22. However, after having dominated the match in the way he did - most notably, the way he outplayed Yamal - Mendes surely has to be considered at least a fringe Ballon d’Or candidate.

Against Spain, Mendes showed off the whole package - not just defensively but offensively as well. There’s a case to be made that no other full-back today blends athleticism and skill in quite the way Mendes does. This combination was on full display in the Nations League final as he took Spain apart on both ends of the field.

Like many elite defenders, Mendes’ contributions have been somewhat underrated throughout this season. However, it must be remembered that he was the one who put the clamps on players like Mohamed Salah and Bukayo Saka on PSG’s path to their first-ever Champions League title. Couple that elite defensive ability with top-tier link-up play, off-ball runs, and playmaking and it should be obvious that Mendes deserves to be at least considered for world football’s highest individual honour.

Of course, this will be a tall order; in addition to the fact that Mendes is a defender, he will have to contend with his own PSG teammates to even get a vote. Additionally, Mendes did miss a decent chunk of the season via injury - a factor which could scupper any chance he might have had to receive any votes at all. This is truly unfortunate because, as has just been proven, Nuno Mendes is a bona fide superstar who deserves to be regarded on a level at least close to the current Ballon d’Or favourites.