The 2018-2019 EFCL season

After missing out last season, the EFCL returns with a revamped system: we still take into consideration only the last two competitive matches played between all the teams in the league, but the selection has been limited to 24 clubs, and they have been hand-picked by yours truly, using a mixture of number of overall champions league appearances since 1992 and current importance and performance of the clubs in question. This means that although Manchester City, Atlético Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk are not among the 24 clubs with the most Champions League appearances, they have been included in the EFCL, to the detriment of Anderlecht, Leverkusen and Galatasaray, who have been dropped. Also missing are Tottenham Hotspur, whose European pedigree is still much lower than those of the other teams included, even if they have had a great season last time around. This is the final 2018-2019 EFCL table:

   W  D  L  F  A    P+GD
01 30 10 06 94 36 100+58 SPA FC Barcelona
02 26 10 10 84 53  88+31 SPA Real Madrid
03 24 12 10 65 39  84+26 ITA Juventus Turin
04 24 11 11 85 58  83+47 GER Bayern Munich
05 20 12 14 76 58  72+18 ENG Liverpool FC
06 18 16 12 72 57  70+15 FRA Paris Saint-Germain
07 16 21 09 64 37  69+27 ENG Manchester City
08 18 14 14 55 49  68+06 GER Borussia Dortmund
09 17 16 13 52 44  67+08 SPA Atlético Madrid
10 16 18 12 52 51  66+01 ITA Internazionale Milan
11 18 11 17 56 50  65+06 ENG Manchester United
12 15 20 11 55 52  65+03 SPA Valencia CF
13 17 11 18 66 65  62+01 ENG Arsenal London
14 13 13 15 60 60  59+00 NET Ajax Amsterdam
15 14 17 15 57 64  59-07 FRA Olympique Lyonnais
16 16 10 20 51 65  58-14 ITA AS Roma
17 12 21 13 50 54  57-04 ENG Chelsea London
18 11 20 15 53 60  53-07 ITA AC Milan
19 13 12 21 48 64  51-16 POR Benfica Lisbon
20 11 08 27 49 79  41-30 POR FC Porto
21 09 14 23 36 75  41-39 GRE Olympiacos Piraeus
22 06 20 20 30 61  38-31 NET PSV Eindhoven
23 04 22 20 33 82  34-49 UKR Shakhtar Donetsk
24 04 14 28 33 83  26-50 UKR Dynamo Kyiv

Some match-ups have never been played, and in that case a double 0-0 draw has been introduced as a current result. This is the case in Atlético v Man City, Lyon, Shakhtar and Dynamo (one match missing only, after they faced each other at the 1986 Cup Winners' Cup final), Valencia v Milan, Dortmund and Benfica, Man City v Inter, Benfica, PSV and Olympiacos, Chelsea v Dortmund, Lyon, Ajax and PSV, Liverpool v Shakhtar, Juventus v PSV, Milan v Dynamo, Inter v PSG and Olympiacos, Roma v PSG, Dortmund v Lyon, PSG v PSV, Shakhtar v Ajax and PSV and Olympiacos v PSV.

Barcelona top it with a considerable 12-point margin over Real Madrid. Barça have the biggest goal difference, are the top scorers and they also have the meanest defence. Were it not for that 4-0 defeat at Liverpool in the 2019 Champions League semifinal, they'd probably be European Champions too, with an even bigger EFCL margin. The bottom five are the teams from Ukraine, Greece and Portugal. Liverpool are the best English team in 5th, and Chelsea are a lowly 17th, with Milan, the 7-time European champions, at 18th.