Just a few days ago, the leadership of Chelsea’s Ashley Cole and John Terry in the FTBL World Ranking of defenders seemed unshakable, but that was until Chelsea fell to Wigan Athletic (1:3) in a Premier League shocking upset Saturday, and Barcelona’s Carles Puyol used the opportunity to rise to the top, as the Catalans came out on top in their encounter against a brave (but doomed) Málaga in La Liga (2:0).

Cole dropped a whopping 21.54 rating points, while Terry lost more than 16, to see their ratings shrink to 122.75 and 122, 52 points, respectively. Puyol, who currently has an overall FTBL rating of 124.97 points, was only too happy to seize the crown.

Competition is now fiercer than ever in the top tier of the world ranking, with a gap of just a little over 5 rating points separating the 1st and 5th placed. Therefore, we refrain from any prognosis until the Champions League matches.