Spanish football’s dominance of the Champions League started in a year which saw three of the four semi-finalists come from England. Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all made the competition’s final four, but it was Barcelona who went on to win the whole thing at the Studio Olimpico.
It was a triumph which marked the start of a dynasty, with Pep Guardiola’s Catalans winning the Champions League twice in three seasons. In a wider sense, though, it was the moment that saw Spain rise to the top of the European game, underlined by Barcelona and Real Madrid sharing the last four titles between them.
Times are changing, though. Barcelona are a club in transition following the watershed departure of Neymar over the summer, with reigning European champions Real Madrid struggling for form this season. The Premier League’s contingent are ready to make the most of those weaknesses, as demonstrated by their collective performance in the group stages.
Indeed, almost without exception, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United have swept through the competition so far, with only Chelsea failing to finish atop their respective group. When the draw for the last 16 takes place on Monday, the Premier League elite will be among the favourites to win the whole thing.
City and United, in particular, look ready to make a run deep into the latter rounds of the Champions League. Both Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho are proven winners at European level and have moulded sides capable of going far in the competition, despite City’s defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in the final match day and United’s loss to Basel two weeks ago.
Liverpool also appear strong, illustrated by their emphatic 7-0 win over Spartak Moscow on Wednesday night. They might lack the defensive basis needed to go all the way, but they have the attacking potency to cause most sides real problems. No team gathered more points in the group stage than Spurs did, which is all the more impressive when you consider that Mauricio Pochettino’s side were drawn alongside Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid. Chelsea are also in a strong position.
Of course, it’s not so long ago that English football reigned supreme in the Champions League. It was an era largely defined by Manchester United and Chelsea, culminating in a meeting between the two clubs in the 2008 final in Moscow, but Arsenal and Liverpool also enjoyed degrees of success around that time.
Since then, the Premier League has suffered a trough in its continental fortunes, with its representatives struggling to make much of an impression at the top level. This season, though, sees the maturing of more than one coaching project. Guardiola, Mourinho, Pochettino, Antonio Conte and Jurgen Klopp all boast sides now coming to fruition. A work-in-progress, they are no longer.
Some point out that, in the grand scheme of the competition as a whole, the group stages matter very little. They might have a point. We won’t be able to gauge the true capacity of the Premier League contingent until the draw for the last 16 is made and the first ties of the knockout rounds are played.
But so far, the signs are good for England’s European representatives. The Premier League has taken a beating in recent years, with many highlighting how its sides’ poor performances on the continent are indicative of an over-hyping and over-rating of the division’s general quality. It’s true that the Premier League hasn’t produced a truly great team for a while now, but these things come and go in cycles. Now, it might have five great teams all at the same time.
