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6 Teams Around Europe Who Have (Somehow) Lost Fewer Games Than Manchester City

Don't you just hate it when your football team keeps losing games, and you can't for the life of you work out why?


Being one of the best managers in history, that's not really a problem Pep Guardiola has had... until now. Following Manchester City's defeat to Southampton on Monday - which means Guardiola has lostt three straight away games for the first time in his career - the Spaniard admitted that even he couldn't figure out what's going wrong.


Anyway, here are seven obscure European teams who have lost fewer league games than City in 2019/20.


7. LASK - 8 Defeats

Remember LASK? That team who Manchester United drew in the Europa League, and we were all wondering what on earth their name stood for before Odion Ighalo slapped them from pillar to post?

Yeah, they've taken just 33 points in the Austrian Bundesliga this season, but have still lost fewer games than Manchester City.


6. Famalicao - 8 Defeats

Regulars on 90min's Power Rankings, Familcao's return to the Primeira Liga, after a 16-year absence, could hardly have gone more smoothly.

It's hardly a fairytale, granted - they've been conspicuously funded by an Israeli billionaire and helped along by the infamous Jorge Mendes - but you have to take the wins where you can get them.

Sitting fifth in the league with Europe well within their grasp, Famalicao - who were playing amateur football a decade ago - will graciously take the smooth with the rough.


5. Stade Reims - 7 Defeats

Sixth place in the top flight and set to qualify for Europe if PSG win the final of the Coupe de France - not bad for a team who were in the fifth division as recently as 2016.

Having overcome one of the most desperately terrible periods in their illustrious history, six-time league champions Reims are back on the up and up.


4. Panathinaikos - 7 Defeats

Panathinaikos are going strong in the Greek Super League

There are actually four teams in Greece who have lost fewer than City's nine, including champions Olympiacos, who are yet to lose at the 32-game mark.

Even fourth-placed Panathinaikos, who now haven't won the league in ten years, have lost just seven. They've drawn 12, however - one short of their win tally - which explains why they trail the leaders by 31 points.


3. Royal Antwerp - 6 Defeats

The Belgian league was one of the first in Europe to declare early owing to the coronavirus pandemic, meaning Antwerp and every other Belgian side have played four fewer games than teams in England.

With just six defeats, however, Antwerp are one of four Belgian teams to have lost a lower percentage of their games than Guardiola's former Centurions.

Trivia time: they're also the oldest club in Belgium, having been formed in 1880 - coincidentally the same year as City,.


2. Viktoria Plzen - 5 Defeats

Plzen are a bit like the Czech Manchester City, having come from nowhere circa 2010 to become one of the country's most successful teams of the past decade.

They've won the league five times in the past ten years, including last season - though they have yielded their title to Slavia Praha this time around.


1. Atalanta - 5 Defeats

It's been a weird old season in Serie A. Juventus, for all they've been a bit rubbish, are cruising towards the title despite some strong competition from Inter and Lazio.

In fourth place, meanwhile, you've got swashbuckling Atalanta, who have scored more goals than any other team in the league by a considerable distance (seriously, 83 to Lazio's 66, what on earth is happening there) and lost just five games all season.

Technically they can still win the league, if all three teams above them disintegrate out of being. Given how this freaky season has gone, you wouldn't write it off.


For more from Robbie Copeland, follow him on Twitter!



Source : 90min