Invincibles? The 17 teams still unbeaten in Europe’s five major leagues: Arsenal, Bayern, Barcelona…
Last season, Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen managed the unique achievement of going an entire league campaign unbeaten. Will we see anyone emulate that in 2024-25?
Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal Invincibles were the last side to do it in England all the way back in 2003-04, while Juventus managed it in Serie A in 2011-12. It’s never been done in France, while neither Barcelona or Real Madrid have done it in La Liga in the post-war era.
Of the 96 teams in Europe’s five major leagues, 79 have suffered at least one loss so far. It’s still very early days, but there are 17 yet to taste defeat – while some can harbour more realistic hopes of a full invincible than others.
Manchester City
Surprise surprise.
Pep Guardiola’s juggernaut are gunning for a fifth successive Premier League title but an Invincible season is one achievement that exudes both them and their era-defining coach.
They were seconds away from suffering their first home league defeat in almost two years against title challengers Arsenal, but super-sub John Stones was in the right place at the right time to stab home a ricochet to make it 2-2.
Arsenal
With key creator Martin Odegaard out injured and having already endured two matches in which they’ve been required to grind it out with 10 men, Mikel Arteta’s Gunners haven’t been at their scintillating best in 2024-25 so far but they’ve shown their steely side.
With Bukayo Saka assisting in every Premier League outing so far, Gabriel continuing to prove himself an absolute menace at set-pieces and the rearguard looking as obdurately organised as ever, Arsenal look like they’re embracing the challenge to scrap for every point.
Having come through Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester City away unbeaten with seven points, and just two points off the summit after five games, is further evidence of Arsenal’s title credentials. Write them off at your peril.
Brighton
Fabian Hurzeler, the first and as yet only full-time Premier League coach born after the advent of the Premier League, made a flying start at Brighton with back-to-back victories over Everton and Manchester United.
Three successive draws against Arsenal, Ipswich and Nottingham Forest have taken the sheen off a little since then, but they’re still looking a solid bet to punch above their weight for a European place once again.
Upcoming fixtures against Chelsea, Tottenham, Newcastle and Liverpool will really test their mettle under their new, fresh-faced coach.
Nottingham Forest
Having fought against the drop over the past couple of seasons, the early signs for Nottingham Forest season this season are positive – they look capable of consolidating their top-flight status with a more comfortable midtable finish, with a settled squad built in the image of Nuno Espirito Santo.
The manner in which they went away to in-form Liverpool, and came away with their first win at Anfield since 1969, demonstrates that this is a proper team.
It was a defensive masterclass, with real counter-attacking venom courtesy of Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Barcelona
Under Xavi last season, Barcelona endured an underwhelming title defence campaign, ending up trophyless and 10 points behind rivals Real Madrid in the final standings.
But the appointment of new boss Hansi Flick appears to have had the desired revitalising effect. They’re one of only two sides across all of Europe’s five major leagues with a 100% winning record and they’ve scored an incredible 22 goals from just six outings so far.
Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski appear to have a new lease of life while Lamine Yamal is swiftly delivering on the hype as the most talented prospect of his generation.
However, a potentially season-ending injury suffered by Marc Andre ter Stegen will raise major questions at the back and has the potential to derail them.
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Real Madrid
Circle Sunday, 27th October in your calendar. Kylian Mbappe’s first El Clasico ought to be a cracker against this newly reinvigorated Barca.
We’re yet to see the reigning European champions fire on all cylinders quite like their historic rivals. But Sunday’s comeback 4-1 victory over Espanyol, in which Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior and Mbappe all got on the scoresheet, was a reminder of this new Galactico project’s frightening potential.
Los Blancos find themselves four points behind Barca after flat draws against Las Palmas and Mallorca, but even an undercooked Madrid are a tough nut to crack. They’ve lost a grand total of one La Liga match since the start of last season.
Atletico Madrid
Diego Simeone has been at Atletico Madrid long enough to consider this a fourth or fifth iteration of a Simeone Atleti team.
And there’s certainly been a sense of ‘work in progress’ in this new cycle in their draws against Villarreal, Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano.
But their hard-fought Champions League victory over RB Leipzig hinted that this new-look Atletico can go places.
A title tilt would be a big ask but you’d expect them to take their now customary place in La Liga’s top three, while doing something special in Europe is by no means out of the question.
Torino
There’s a real sense of fun about the Serie A table during this infancy stage of the 2024-25 season. Torino top! Udinese third! Empoli fifth! Reigning champions Inter sixth!
Paolo Vanoli’s surprise package have admittedly been blessed with a relatively forgiving fixture schedule, but they’ve drawn away to Milan and came from behind to beat Atalanta 2-1 en route to 11 points from their first five outings.
Long may it continue.
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Juventus
London? Manchester? Rome? Milan? No, the second city after Madrid to boast multiple unbeaten teams is Turin.
There is a sense that Thiago Motta is still yet to fully make his stamp on this Juventus team, who aren’t quite playing the free-flowing football of last season’s remarkably entertaining Bologna.
Each of their last three Serie A outings have ended up goalless. But while they’re struggling to click in the final third, they’ve suddenly looking a defensive powerhouse with five successive clean sheets.
They’re the only side in all of Europe’s major leagues yet to concede a single goal.
Empoli
Empoli sit behind Juventus only by virtue of goal difference, having also won two and drawn three matches so far.
Like Torino, their fixtures have been easier, but they did frustrate Juventus to draw 0-0. Upcoming matches against Torino, Fiorentina, Lazio and Napoli will be an interesting test.
Bayern Munich
Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich will have much bigger questions to answer, but so far they’ve passed every test with flying colours – scoring no fewer than 20(!) goals across their last three outings in all competitions.
Bayer Leverkusen, who themselves lost their long-unbeaten domestic record, look as though they’ll be facing a strong, sharper Bayern this time around as they look to retain their Bundesliga crown.
RB Leipzig
It was Leipzig that ended Leverkusen’s era of invincibility on the second week of the season, having come from two goals behind to produce a remarkable 3-2 victory at the BayArena.
The attacking prowess that they demonstrated that day have since deserted them in back-to-back 0-0 draws against Union Berlin and St. Pauli, however.
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Union Berlin
The third unbeaten side in Germany’s top flight, Union Berlin are starting to look more like themselves after last season’s major step backwards.
They’ve looked equal parts stubborn and organised in draws away to Main and Leipzig and home victories over St. Pauli and Hoffenheim.
PSG
The early signs are that the perennial Ligue 1 champions have adapted pretty well to life after Kylian Mbappe.
With what may well be their least star-studded squad of the QSI era, the Parisians might be lacking in glamour but they look a real collective under Luis Enrique and still boast tons of quality.
They were held away at Reims at the weekend, but prior to that, they’d won four consecutive Ligue 1 outings in impressively comfortable fashion.
Marseille
Not since Marcelo Bielsa sat on a cooler box at the Stade Velodrome have Marseille looked like viable challengers for the Ligue 1 title.
It’s far too early to declare them genuine challengers under Roberto De Zerbi but all the signs so far are positive. They’ve taken 13 points from 15 on offer and sit behind league leaders PSG only on goal difference.
Monaco
Level on points with both PSG and Marseille are Monaco, who have also caught the eye by kicking off their Champions League campaign with a victory over Barcelona
In their league campaign, Monaco have notched victories over Saint-Etienne, Lyon, Auxerre and Le Havre and drawn at home to Lens.
Everything is going smoothly under Adi Hutter but it’ll be interesting to see whether they can reproduce their performance against Barcelona against their direct rivals in the French top flight.
Lens
Making up Ligue 1’s top four are Lens, who kicked off their campaign with successive victories over Angers and Brest before drawing with Monaco, Lyon and Rennes.
A very promising start for Will Still.