Which Football Club has impressed most so far this season?

It’s been almost 3 months since the 2013-14 season has started and some clubs have impressed right away while others have flattered to deceive. Many of the big teams have undergone managerial changes and while the likes of Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain have immediately hit the stride, other big guns like Real Madrid, Chelsea, the Manchester clubs are still getting accustomed to managerial changes. AS Roma and to some extent, Napoli have been mightily impressive under new management.

Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich have continued in the same vein from where they have left last season with the team virtually unbeatable. Many have voiced their concerns when Laurent Blanc was appointed as the manager of PSG but they have been very solid till now and already look like a team which will be aiming to go very far in the Champions League along with defending their domestic title. Barcelona under new manager Gerardo Martino may have seemed to abandon the fabled ‘tiki-taka’ brand of football but that has not stopped them from being at the top of Spanish La Liga standings with 34 points from a possible 36 points. After years of underachievement, AS Roma under their new manager Rudi Garcia have suddenly become the most dangerous team in Italy and are 3 points clear at the top and have a very impressive 10 wins in 11 matches with only two goals scored against them till now.

Elsewhere, Arsenal have been the most impressive team in the Premier League having already opened up a 5 point lead at the top of the table. Borussia Dortmund may have lost Mario Goetze to Bayern Munich at the end of last season but it seems that they have not missed the diminutive playmaker even for a moment as they sit atop their Champions League group and just a one point behind leaders Bayern in the Bundesliga. 

But the team which has caught everyone’s eye is definitely Atletico Madrid. At long last this might be the season when the Big Two hegemony will end in La Liga as Atletico Madrid have grown a lot stronger. Valencia were the last team apart from Barça or Real to win La Liga back in 2004. Only Villarreal have broken the stranglehold of the world’s richest clubs by income on the top two places since, coming second behind Real and ahead of third-placed Barça in 2008. What is most impressive about the club is that Atletico have less than a quarter of the annual budget of Real and Barça and a limited squad but have been transformed into genuine title contenders by the Argentinian coach Diego Simeone. Even though they have lost their top scorer of last season Radamel Falcao, they have bought Spain’s greatest goal scorer of all time David Villa. But it is Diego Costa who is the reason why Falcao’s absence has not been felt. He has 13 goals in 12 La Liga matches plus two more in one Champions League outing.

When Los Rojiblancos beat Real last season in the Copa del Rey final, it broke the jinx of 25 games without a win in the Madrid derby—spanning a period of 14 years. In ensuring it was not a one-off, Atletico defeated Real at the Bernabeu, firmly giving the Rojiblancos’ supporters bragging rights in the Spanish capital.

Atletico Madrid’s European form has been equally impressive and has won all three Champions League Group matches. Their current form bears testimony that they have the ability to defeat any team and go very far in the Champions League.