Europe’s biggest stage is quickly becoming England’s playground
Before 1999 when Manchester United lifted the Champions League you had to go back to 1984 for another British winner when Liverpool won it. It then took another six years before another English side lifted the trophy (Liverpool again in what might have been the best final ever), but since then there has been a massive English domination at least one English finalist since the 2004-05 campaign. It’s easy to see that Europe’s biggest stage has never been more lopsided.
Don’t get me wrong, I always like to see English sides go through and do well, but I think what makes the competition so fantastic is when the rest of the Europe has a legitimate say as well. I don’t support one of the ‘top four’ teams, but when it comes to European football I will always follow the English sides. As an observer of the game though I want a bit more variety. When Liverpool drew Real Madrid the initial thoughts were it could be a tricky tie, but when Liverpool smashed Real Madrid 5-0 on aggregate, was anyone really shocked? I know I wasn’t.
The real surprise is that we have no Italian representatives in the quarter-final stage of the competition. They all came up against English opponents and all of them were beaten thoroughly. Roma were only beaten by Arsenal on penalties, but if Arsenal had been more clinical in front of goal, especially in the first leg, they would have hammered them by a far greater margin.
So who still has a shot amongst the final eight? I’d put money money on Barcelona. They are probably the only side out of the four none English clubs left in the competition you can really see lifting the trophy. Perhaps Bayern Munich at a push (their record 12 goals in the last round was something to see) but I just can’t imagine Villareal or Porto getting any further than the next round (unless paired together of course).
As much as I love too see the English sides doing well and winning the competition it’s a shame to see Europe’s great clubs struggling against the Premier League opposition. When I first started following football the English league was a long way behind the rest of Europe, and it was rare that any English team advanced advanced at all.
Now though Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are expected to beat almost any other European side they come up against. This is great for the English game but perhaps not for the European game as a whole. In 1995 Ajax lifted the trophy with a side containing a large amount of players who had been brought through the club’s youth system, such as Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids and Ronald de Boers amongst others. In today’s game those players would have left for ‘bigger’ European clubs earlier in their career, and that’s why I can’t see the Dutch throwing out a winner anytime soon.
There may be more money in the Premier League but for teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus this shouldn’t make a massive difference. Looking at their team-sheets you can see they attract some of the world’s best talent, but they just haven’t worked out a way to deal with the pace in the Premier League sides. As much as I love seeing an English team lift the trophy at the end of the season I’d rather watch a final with one English team and one from La Liga or Serie A as opposed to two English sides. It just seems right to me.
Gareth Freeman is a sports writer who writes about betting for betfair.
Topics: UEFA Champions League
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Exactly.I agree with you totally.The best thing about CL is matches like Man U-INter….and now it’s looking increasingly likely they’ll be a manu chelsea or a arsenal liverpool.That’s just another premier league game.
March 13th, 2009 @ 19:18I don’t think it’s going to stay an english playground for long though.Real Madrid are always going to be able to attract quality (CR a case in point), they just need a good manager..and maybe ramos will do the trick next year.I believe Inter were unlucky and could have defeated any other side in europe(except maybe barca).
Barca along with Utd are just in another class,and had any of the english teams drawn barca they would have probably been out by now.For the next few years at least,Juve,Milan and bayern should still be able to attract big players.
I think juve haven’t completely rebuilt themselves yet.They need another CB to patner Chielleni (he may have had a bad game but he’s still a damn gud player),a winger to replace nedved and a central midfielder to patner sissoko,at the very least.Even then,their squad would still lack a bit of depth.Realistically,Juve shld luk at 2 yrs from now
I agree with this article that although it is pleasurable to see English teams with fast paced football and international talent on show in every match, it is disconcerting that there is a hegemony of English clubs dominating the UCL. BUT, this is due to how these clubs attract players because of their spending power, and with these factors, of course they are going to succeed in the Champions League. Not only this, because Manchester City have proven so far the money cannot automatically bring success, the Big 4 of England HAVE money, quality and a winning pedigree.
Now, to the other European countries with football’s great clubs. Spanish football’s best representative to win the UCL this year is no doubt Barcelona. I think that Barca and Man Utd with Liverpool are the three favorites to win the trophy. It was a shame to see three Italian sides dumped out of the competition. Inter were beaten. But Juventus and Roma had great chances to topple Chelsea and Arsenal, and were undone by indecisive desperation (Chiellini’s two yellows) and wilting under pressure (Max Tonetto). Bayern on the other hand are always capable, and are enigmatic in the UCL, they are unpredictable to say the least.
To compete in equal footing, Juventus, Milan, Bayern, Inter, Real Madrid, and Barca should be able to attract good talent. To do that, they should be successful at home and in Europe. So, a break-in by any non-English team in the semi-finals and maybe even the finals this year would send out a signal that Europe is not yet England’s playground.
March 14th, 2009 @ 08:54