The Weekly Take, Issue 181: The Pharaoh Reigns Supreme

Liverpool took an important step in their pursuit of a seventh UEFA Champions League title by beating Atlético Madrid 3-2 in a group-stage match. Mohamed Salah and Naby Keïta put the Reds 2-0 after just 13 minutes, but Antoine Griezmann responded with two goals of his own to bring Atlético level. Salah would later score the winning goal from the penalty spot after Mario Hermoso fouled Diogo Jota in the box.

With the victory, Liverpool moved five points clear of their Spanish opponents and all but secured first place in Group B. This will prove to be important because by coming in first, they will be much more likely to avoid a difficult opponent in the round of 16.

Salah's two goals added to what has been the hottest streak of his career - no small feat when you consider that he scored 44 goals in all competitions in the 2017-18 season; these included an almost unfathomable 32 in the Premier League alone.

Since the season began in August, Salah has scored 12 goals and handed out four assists in all competitions. He has also been selected as man of the match four times - a remarkable number given how early in the season it still is.

What makes this even more impressive is the fact that Salah is doing it against elite teams. Salah's molten-hot run of form has included matches against Chelsea, AC Milan, Manchester City, and now Atlético. Though it may be unlikely that he will win it, Salah might very well be making a late run to force himself into contention for the Ballon d'Or.

Right now, the Egyptian is arguably the best striker on the planet. There isn't a defensive line which seems to have an answer for him. Only Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland have a legitimate case over Salah at the moment. 

Salah isn't just dominating on the stat sheet alone. He is not only scoring goals with machine-like efficiency; he is also humiliating opponents while doing so. The goal he scored against Manchester City went viral almost immediately after he scored it as he carved up the City defense, leaving them in the dust.

His goal against Atlético was almost as impressive. Salah opened the scoring by making his way past three Atlético players before launching a shot from just outside the box that made its way into the net via a deflection off Atlético defender Geoffrey Kondogbia.

A major reason for Salah's incredible play this season has been his positional move. Salah is playing further out on the wing than he has for several years, and this has taken his game to new heights. As shown by his goals against City and Atlético, even elite defenses are finding it almost impossible to handle Salah as he moves inside from such a wide position.

Additionally, Salah's interplay with right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold has been truly superb. As one of the duo moves inside, the other will stay out wide to provide width. This combination has proven to be almost unstoppable when both are in peak form - like now. Salah might just turn out to be the driving force behind Liverpool's second Champions League title in four seasons.

Liverpool's next match will be a Premier League clash against arch-rivals Manchester United. Salah's current hot streak coupled with United's shaky form should see Liverpool claim a fairly straightforward victory. Even if United do somehow manage to contain Salah, they will almost certainly have done so by doubling or even tripling him often. This would in turn lead to players such as Jota, Alexander-Arnold, and Sadio Mané becoming wide open and punishing United accordingly.

Anfield has seen countless all-time great strikers over the decades. Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Michael Owen, and Luis Suárez are the names which headline this illustrious list. Yet, when all is said and done, it might very well be Salah who ends up the greatest Liverpool striker of all time.

I'll finish by bringing this up: James Milner currently wears Liverpool's iconic #7 jersey. When Milner retires or leaves Liverpool, whichever comes first, he should see to it that Salah will inherit the #7 jersey. There is no other player who more deserves the honour of donning that number at that club.

The Weekly Take, Issue 180: Seven Minutes that May Have Changed a Season

In just a single seven-minute span, the trajectory of Bayer Leverkusen's season could potentially have been fundamentally altered.

The recent match between Leverkusen and Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich finished in a one-sided 5-1 victory in favour of Bayern. Four of Bayern's five goals came between the 30th and 37th minute, with Serge Gnabry scoring two within that flurry of goals. Robert Lewandowski also scored two goals of his own while Thomas Müller scored Bayern's other goal to ensure that the reigning Bundesliga champions bounced back from their loss to Eintracht Frankfurt in emphatic fashion.

Leverkusen, on the other hand, may have entered the match with a slight, yet an existing, hope of challenging for a first Bundesliga title in the club's history. However, even though Die Werkself still remain just three points behind Bayern in the league, the match made it clear: there's still a chasm between Bayern and Leverkusen.

Realistically, the only team with a chance of dethroning Bayern and denying the Bavarian juggernaut a 10th consecutive league title is Borussia Dortmund simply due to the transcendent talent of Erling Haaland, who, at 21, might already be the best player in the league.

Heading into the season, Leverkusen were arguably the best-positioned of any team other than Bayern or Dortmund to take advantage of any slip-ups by the leading contenders and insert themselves into the title race. This was largely due to RB Leipzig's expected decline following head coach Julian Nagelsmann's departure; Nagelsmann took over in the Bayern dugout during the off-season.

Up to this point, Leverkusen had been keeping pace with the leaders as they started the season strongly. However, the match against Bayern highlighted the true gap in quality between the two teams. It also made this fact abundantly clear: in today's game, you do need that one elite player to build your team around. It's just not enough to have a "solid group of guys".

This is by no means a team without any notable talent. The 18-year-old Florian Wirtz is a likely superstar in the making; he is already the best player on the team. Wirtz is surrounded by a supporting cast including the likes of Moussa Diaby, Lukáš Hrádecký, Kerem Demirbay, and Patrik Schick. On paper, Leverkusen entered the season with a team expected to finish the season in the top four with not only an outside chance of a league title, but more realistically a DFB-Pokal title as well. Leverkusen are probably also the second-most likely to win the Europa League behind Napoli.

It should be noted that during the past off-season, Leverkusen did make one key error in the transfer market. After selling Leon Bailey to Aston Villa for €32 million, they did not use the money to sign any players who would have moved the needle in a meaningful way. Following Bailey's exit, Leverkusen signed Robert Andrich, Piero Hincapié, and Amine Adli; none of these three signings have made a significant impact on the team as of yet.

While it may be true that Leverkusen might inherently find it difficult to attract big names due to both their relative lack of finances and their unglamorous location, they could arguably have done better with what they had at their disposal. For example, Dortmund signed Donyell Malen from PSV Eindhoven for €30 million, while VfL Wolfsburg brought in Luca Waldschmidt for the surprisingly low price of €12 million.

That being said, all is not lost at the BayArena by any means. A season in which Leverkusen finish in the top four in the league and make deep runs in both the DFB-Pokal and Europa League will be regarded as a successful one, and Wirtz might be blossoming into that singular elite talent before our very eyes. Nevertheless, the question remains: when the season ends, could Leverkusen end up thinking "it might have been more than even this"?

As long as the wheels don't fall off, Leverkusen will remain on track to have their best season since 2015-16 when, led by the 17 Bundesliga goals of Javier Hernández, they finished third in the league. They will be competitive all season long, but has the result of this one match changed how they will approach the rest of the season? Only time will tell.

The Weekly Take, Issue 179: Entering the Pantheon

The final of this season's UEFA Nations League saw reigning world champions France beat Spain 2-1 to clinch the title. Mikel Oyarzabal opened the scoring to put Spain 1-0 ahead at the San Siro, only for Karim Benzema to score France's equalizer just two minutes later. Kylian Mbappé would then score the winning goal with 10 minutes of regulation time remaining.

This victory does not only give Les Bleus their first Nations League title; it also puts the current iteration of the French national team in the discussion for "greatest international team of all time".

I'm not jumping the gun at all. Prior to this tournament, France already had a World Cup title in 2018; they were also runners-up to Portugal in Euro 2016. Many of the core players of those two squads are still key members of the current team; hence, those squads can be classified as part of the current era.

When we consider where the current France team stands in international football history, we have to first think of the other teams which are often considered the greatest ever: 1957-63 Brazil, 1970-76 West Germany, and 2008-12 Spain. With all due respect to 1970 Brazil, though they may have peaked the highest, I cannot honestly include them due to their lack of longevity.

Over their respective runs, Brazil won two World Cups and reached two Copa América finals and two semifinals, West Germany won one World Cup and one European Championship while also reaching a World Cup semifinal and a European Championship final, and Spain won two European Championships and one World Cup. France's current record of one European Championship runner-up finish and one World Cup and Nations League title apiece over a five-year stretch stacks up very nicely indeed.

On top of that, with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar just over a year away, perhaps the most ominous sign for those who believe they can topple France is this: France just won the Nations League without their best player and potential Ballon d'Or contender N'Golo Kanté. The Chelsea defensive midfielder was not named to the squad after having tested positive for Covid-19.

Consider this: in the final against Spain, the player in Kanté's usual spot was Aurélien Tchouaméni. Tchouaméni is certainly no scrub and does have a bright future ahead of him - but of course, he can't hold a candle to the player I consider to be the second-greatest defensive midfielder of all time. Imagine how France could've played if Kanté had been present.

That said, it's obvious by now that this France team isn't just about Kanté. It's loaded with all-time greats including Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba, Benzema, and Raphaël Varane as well as legends in the making such as Mbappé, Dayot Upamecano, Benjamin Pavard, and Lucas Hernandez. Almost as if to rub it in for their direct competition, France's depth is truly astonishing - even their backups alone could give a good game to many a top team.

Certainly, France have to be considered the favourites to win back-to-back World Cuo titles next year and become the first team in 60 years to successfully defend a world title. Though the likes of Belgium, England, Italy, and Brazil do have a puncher's chance, the reality is that as it stands right now, it's France, then a gap, then the rest of the contenders.

Another World Cup title in 2022 would unquestionably make the current France team the greatest international football team to have ever taken to the field. Not only that - the reputations and legacies of their key players would be elevated to new heights.

Kanté would become the undisputed greatest defensive midfielder of all time, a top-20 player in history, and arguably France's greatest footballer ever (depending on how you rank Zinedine Zidane). Pogba, Griezmann, Benzema, and arguably Varane would enter the top 50 of all time. Mbappé would clearly move ahead in what I expect to become a generation-defining rivalry with Erling Haaland, while Hugo Lloris, Presnel Kimpembe, Hernandez, and even head coach Didier Deschamps, among others, would no longer be as unjustly underrated as they are today.

To sum it up, France are potentially slightly more than a year from ascending to a level which no other international team has reached. The remarkable part is: it seems realistic that they will do it.