In France, the defending champions Bordeaux have already come through a pair of tricky encounters against Lens and Sochaux unscathed to be one of only three teams who took six points from the first two weeks. Don’t expect one of the other, Nancy, to stay perfect much longer. Marseille, however, is also two-for-two and will put the pressure on Bordeaux early on this year. L’O.M. is still very upset at how narrowly it missed out on its first title in 17 years.
In Germany, the defending champions are also off to a perfect start. Wolfsburg cruised through its first two games while most of the other potential contenders seemed to fall over each other to drop points. Only Schalke matched them with six points in their first two outings. Bayern Munich may have notched a victory in keeping Ribery, but they’ve yet to do the same on the pitch. After two mediocre draws, they’ve already fallen four points off the pace and could be setting themselves up for a season of irrelevance at home.
Comments