The knock-out stages of the UEFA Champions League (the European Cup) are just around the corner, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to look at why the English teams have been doing so well of late in this competition. Let's look at the last four finals:
2005: Liverpool vs AC Milan
2006: Arsenal vs Barcelona
2007: Liverpool vs AC Milan
2008: Chelsea vs Manchester United
It has been said that the bigger European leagues have all had their 'era' of dominance as it were. However, upon closer inspection a glaring difference can be seen. Take a look at the eras for Spain and Italy:
SPAIN
1998: Real Madrid vs Juventus
2000: Real Madrid vs Valencia
2001: Valencia vs Bayern Munich
2002: Real Madrid vs Bayer Leverkusen
ITALY
1989: AC Milan vs Steaua Bucharest
1990: AC Milan vs Benfica
1991: Sampdoria vs Barcelona
1992: AC Milan vs Marseille
1994: AC Milan vs Barcelona
1995: AC Milan vs Ajax
1996: Juventus vs Ajax
1997: Juventus vs Borussia Dortmund
1998: Juventus vs Real Madrid
In both cases, only two teams from the respective leagues made it to the final, with the exception of an appearance from Sampdoria in 1991 (who lost narrowly to Barcelona). And in Spain's case, only Real Madrid claimed the trophy during this time, although they did so on all three occasions, including in the all-Spanish final of 2000.
Italy's case is even more bizarre. Despite having a team in the final almost consistently for a decade, again only AC Milan and Juventus represented their country's league, with Juventus winning one of three (consecutive) finals. AC Milan won three of five finals in six seasons (and also defeated Juventus in the all-Italian final of 2003).
The difference now with this English era of dominance is that we have fielded four different teams over four finals, two of which won it and in the last season, 2007/08, no English team was knocked out by a team from another league (Liverpool beat Arsenal, Chelsea beat Liverpool and Manchester Utd beat Chelsea). This of course led to an all-English final, not unusual since both Spain and Italy have had a final all to themselves before. However, the Chelsea v Manchester Utd game in Moscow was one of the most closely-contested finals in recent European history, and Chelsea were denied victory by the width of a post.
This all leads me to believe that the reason that our game is so strong at the moment is because we have more than just a couple of teams that are able to step up to the challenge of Europe's other elite. For the past few seasons we have had the so-called "Big Four" of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester Utd. It is commonly agreed that the Italian and Spanish leagues are the next strongest, but who do they have representing them each year?
In Italy, if you disregard points deductions and relegation scandals, you would normally expect the top three to be AC Milan, Inter and Juventus in no particular order. After that, their next European Cup place is one of many (no disrespect) average teams; usually Roma, but their place is under constant threat from the likes of Fiorentina, Udinese, Sampdoria and Lazio. All of these teams would consider a quarter-final appearance to be a major achievement in the Champions League.
In Spain, Barcelona and Real Madrid frequently have the top two spots to themselves. The remainder is filled with two of (usually) Villareal, Valencia, Atletico Madrid or Sevilla. On a couple of occasions even other teams such as Real Betis and Deportivo La Coruna have gatecrashed UEFA's elite competition. And again, these teams would not be the bookies' favourites to win the tournament.
Conclusions
The past few years have been good for the Premier League in Europe. And I see no signs of this changing, even if our teams do. Currently, Aston Villa look on course to upset the applecart and land a place in the big time. And nobody can argue that they will not have done so on merit. So, even with the new qualification rules, I would not bet against Martin O'Neill's side to have a good run in next year's European Cup should they make it.
Our league is growing ever stronger, whilst the other major European leagues stand still and continue as they ever have. I see no reason why English teams cannot continue to stamp their authority on this most prestigious of competitions for the next decade, or even beyond.
Predictions
As a side note, I would just like to offer my thoughts on which teams will progress into the quarter-finals this season. I have indicated the teams I think will win in bold.
Atletico Madrid vs FC Porto
Lyon vs Barcelona
Arsenal vs AS Roma
Internazionale vs Manchester Utd (really tough to call this one)
Real Madrid vs Liverpool
Chelsea vs Juventus
Villareal vs Panathinaikos (shock of the round!)
Sporting Lisbon vs Bayern Munich
Cheers
Adam
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