The excellence of Europe’s elite teams was once again proven as English clubs finished with two draws and four losses in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Ruben Dias reacts as Manchester City lose to Real Madrid (Image: DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Immediately after the first phase of endless shams of this season’s Champions League football, not a moment of airtime passed without pundits and others extolling the superiority of English clubs. There was even debate as to whether that was good for European football. Honestly.
Dominant? These are English clubs in the Premier League who have failed to become finalists in Europe’s Blue Ribbon competition in the past two seasons.
Dominant? These are English clubs in the Premier League, with only one team reaching the semi-finals in the last two seasons.
Seriously, are we overlooking the fact that dominance usually refers to dominance over a fairly long period of time? Since the creation of the Premier League, English clubs have won the Champions League seven times and Spanish clubs have won the Champions League 13 times.
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Since the creation of the Premier League, English clubs have won the Europa League/UEFA Cup five times, while Spanish clubs have won it 12 times. Seriously, would we overlook the fact that the Premier League only picked two players out of the top 20 in the 2025 Ballon d’Or voting (although Gianluigi Donnarumma and Victor Gyokeres were there, due to their performances with Paris Saint-Germain and Sporting Lisbon respectively)?
Yes, there are a lot of very good players in the Premier League, but many of the best players are not active here. Who is the best striker in the world right now? Probably Harry Kane or Kylian Mbappe, one from Germany and the other from Spain.
And even without Premier League representatives, you can build a sensational team by properly adjusting the positions. Ah, but apparently the Premier League is the most competitive league in club football.
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Yes, the competition is very strong, but not as much as other major European leagues. Oh, but the great thing, they say, is that any team can beat any team on any given day.
Of course, technically that’s true. However, in reality this is not the case.
Last season, the bottom three clubs played a total of 114 Premier League games, winning 12 of them. Four of those wins were head-to-head wins. Last season, La Liga’s bottom three teams played a total of 114 games, winning 21 of them.
Premier League clubs always have a moderate participation in all competitions, so the European English coefficient is high. That’s because the Premier League’s financial power allows more teams to spend big amounts of money on players.
Spurs manager Igor Tudor watched his team get beaten by Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League
There is no doubt that the Premier League is the richest league in the world, that’s for sure. But the great institutions of Europe, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, etc., can compete on a financial level and can compete on many other levels as well. That’s why six English clubs failed to win a Champions League match this week, and three of the four defeats were disastrous.
The accolades that come with playing for Real Madrid don’t discount Chelsea, even though you might not be able to play for them. Players with experience in club football from various countries agree that the Premier League is the most physically demanding competition in European club football. That’s probably incontrovertible.
But there are serious doubts as to whether this will adequately prepare the team for the challenges posed by the elite in the final stages of the Champions League. There is still a chance that the Premier League will make it to the top eight of the Champions League.
Arsenal need to get the job done against Bayer Leverkusen, and Liverpool are quite the favorites to overturn a one-goal deficit against Galatasaray at Anfield. And having two teams in the quarterfinals would be a respectable achievement…but it would also serve as a reminder that we are not as good as many people think.
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