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When the first international break of the season arrived, it was a time when every club team was settling in and trying to build momentum. It is hard to deal with these breaks for clubs as some of their crucial players might get injured and it will take some time again to settle back after the break. Anyhow, we can't eliminate it as it is part of football, and the priority for the national team is second to none for any player.
The Champions League, the most sought-after competition in club football, is set to kick off from 18th September and in the first round itself, we are going to see some mouth-watering fixtures, with Liverpool against PSG the most entertaining.
We have updated our list of previous articles and ranked the top-15 teams in Europe at present based on their performances this season.
Let us dive into the rankings.
15-11
#15 PSV Eindhoven
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PSV Eindhoven is in red-hot form as they maintain their perfect start to the campaign with four wins in a row. The team also qualified for the group stages of the Champions League and will face Barcelona away in their opening fixture.
With a thumping 6-1 victory over Willem II, PSV scored 14 goals already in their first four games and the Dutch youngster Steven Bergwijn impressed in those games, the defending Eredivisie champions deserved the spot at the moment on our list.
#14 Arsenal
Unai Emery's men have breathed a sigh of relief after winning a five-goal thriller against a recently promoted Cardiff City that ensured two wins in a row after a difficult start to the season.
Arsenal strikers Aubameyang and Lacazette finally started clicking under the new system, which is a promising sign for the 'gunners', albeit things looking gloomy on the other end where the Arsenal defence looks shaky and they are the first team to concede against Cardiff.
If Arsenal can reduce their defensive mistakes, they will be given a tough fight for any team.
#13 Inter Milan
In the absence of Icardi due to injury, Nainggolan took responsibility for scoring as he provided the opener against Bologna, Antonio Candreva and Ivan Perisic were also on the score sheet. Inter goalkeeper Handanovic ensured the team's first clean-sheet of the season.
Inter is one of the strongest contenders for the Serie A title, but their major rival will be Juventus, and it remains to be seen how the 'Nerazzurri' play with the 'Bianconeri,' which will decide the fate of its champions.
#12 Borussia Dortmund
A difficult game away saw the 'Black and Yellows' draw with Hannover 96 in which Marcos Reus came close twice with goalkeeper and woodwork denied him on those occasions. This was the first time a goalless draw happened between these two sides.
Lucien Favre, the new manager, is in a transitional period with a team that could take the positives away from the match as they looked solid in the defence.
#11 Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham's defeat against Watford saw them drop to eleventh place in our current rankings. They won a difficult fixture against Manchester United and failed to grind out a result against the Hornets.
This result ended their perfect start to the season, presumably a wake-up call for taking anything for granted.
#10 Manchester United
Manchester United ended their troubles with an emphatic victory over Burnley. Mourinho's men displayed a brilliant all-around performance as the midfield pairing Fellaini and Matic in front of the defence gave wing backs Luke Shaw and Valencia to roam high up the pitch and looked entertaining throughout the match.
Romelu Lukaku could have scored a hat-trick but ensured the team victory with a brace in a dramatic encounter where Pogba missed from the spot and Rashford was sent off for head-butting Bardsley.
With this victory, the team re-entered the top-10 positions after missing out the last term.
#9 Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid witnessed their first defeat of the season with a defeat against Celta Vigo. It was a poor second-half performance against Celta, where the team conceded two goals and defender Stefan Savic got sent off.
"This is a wake-up call for us. I have no doubt this is the best thing that could happen for us." - Diego Simeone after the defeat.
This result saw Atletico drop from fourth to ninth spot on the list.
#8 Chelsea
Chelsea's fourth win in as many games enabled them to top the league table with Liverpool. The blues continued to impress under the new boss Maurizio Sarri as Pedro and Eden Hazard strikes gave all three points in the match against Bournemouth.
Chelsea moved up one place in our current rankings following their victory.
#7 Liverpool
Liverpool moved one place up to seventh from the last rankings following their victory over Leicester City.
The 'Reds' grind out a victory in a difficult second half after an error from Alisson that didn't prove costly as their defence was solid and maintained their 100 per cent win record for the season going.
#6 Bayern Munich
Bayern has got their Bundesliga title defence off to a superb start defeating Hoffenheim 3-1 and Stuttgart 3-0 in their two matches.
New signing Leon Goretzka opened the scoring for the 'Bavarian' giants with a nice and controlled finish followed by goals from Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller kept Bayern on top of Bundesliga table after defeating Stuttgart.
#5 Juventus
Although Juventus won all three games in Serie A, Ronaldo has yet to score. Juventus worked hard for their victory against Parma in which an early goal from Mandzukic gave them the lead later that former Arsenal man Gervinho equalized for Parma and Matuidi's angled shot gave their lead back and also three points.
It seems Juventus has yet to reach full flow; this saw them dropping from third to fifth on our list.
#4 Paris Saint-Germain
The goals will flow when a team has an array of talented players like Mbappe, Neymar, Cavani and Di Maria, and the same happened in a dramatic game against Nimes.
PSG won the game 4-2 with Mbappe scoring a brilliant solo goal at the end, but it was overshadowed by the red card moments later.
Anyway, with continuous good performances, PSG stood on the fourth spot on our list and after the international break, PSG is going to face their first real test of the season in the Champions League game away to Liverpool.
#3 Real Madrid
Real Madrid's La Liga campaign is off to a cracking start as the team has already changed under Julen Lopetegui with their new passing game that set a record for the highest passes (798 successful passes) against Leganes for Real in La Liga since Opta started collecting the stats.
Real Madrid has won all three games, and in a recent victory against Leganes Bale, Benzema was impressed by scoring with Ramos, also on the score sheet with a goal from the penalty spot.
Real Madrid moved to the third spot with its continuous good performances.
#2 Manchester City
Manchester City emerged victorious by 2-1 in their recent match against Newcastle United which made them sit in the fourth on the table with two points behind the leaders Liverpool, Chelsea and Watford.
Manchester City is so dominant in possession, but they lack ruthlessness in the absence of De Bruyne and Leroy Sane. Raheem Sterling and David Silva both performed brilliantly, but Kyle Walker was the one who saved the day for Manchester City on their 10th anniversary with a stunning 30-yard rocket that would make Aguero and also the Twitterati proud.
#1 Barcelona
No doubt in the top spot, Barcelona is the most deserving team in this week's rankings. They ran riot in the home game against Huesca with a scoreline 8-2 against the minnows.
It was a game of finishing at the highest level, with Messi scoring an unbelievable goal to put on level terms after they went behind early in the third minute. Luis Suarez also joined the party as he opened his account of the season.
In the end, both Suarez and Messi scored two goals each, with Rakitic, Dembele and Alba also registered their names on the scoresheet.
