After last seasons abysmal showing in the Champions League the top clubs of Europe have a lot to do to regain the confident swagger they had before taking to the pitch against English clubs through the nineties.
After recent years of not quite dominating Europe, last year saw the first all English final ever and three English sides in the last four for the second season running.
What does this say about English football?
Not much really as the managers of these three most recent teams were Spanish, Scottish, and Israeli. The players involved were as cosmopolitan as the managers.
But the fact remains that the English club sides have been playing better football than their continental rivals. I am wondering what clubs from Europe are going to step up and challenge this domination?
Will the Spanish teams mount viable challenges? The Italian? Both these leagues have produced many winners of Europe's premier club competition in the past.
But the Bundesliga and the French League or even the Dutch have all had teams that have been there or thereabouts for years. Who could forget the great sides that have come out of Amsterdam or Munich or even Marseille not to mention Porto.
I have started to wonder where it is these sides have gone in the past few seasons since the new millennium. For besides FC Porto and Bayern Munich all the other winners have been from either Italy, Spain, or England.
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The bad news for the continental clubs is that the best of last season's non-English challengers, Barcelona meekly bowed out of the last four without even scoring a goal against the eventual winners. And even though the 2007 Champions League was won by AC Milan they were well beaten by Arsenal in the 2008 competition as the other top continental sides fell weakly to other English opposition.
After looking at it, I have begin to wonder if we are not about to witness another period of English domination of the continental game similar to the period between 1977 and 1982 when three different English clubs won six successive European club titles.
The way the English Premier League sides are looking to strengthen themselves again this season it looks as though the chances of this are moderate to good.
Mind you, since 1990 we have seen in this competition 12 different winners from eight different countries. So in no way has it been easy to establish a lasting hold on the trophy.
In this period, not one side has managed to win it back to back and only AC Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Manchester United have managed to win it more than once with AC Milan the most successful with four trophies followed by Real Madrid with three wins and the two other teams mentioned with two apiece.
Interestingly the last team to pull off back-to-back European club titles was none other than AC Milan (1989 and 1990) who are also the most successful team in this competition of the last twenty years.
With European success and honours the real prize amongst Europe's management elite it will be interesting to see who is in the running come the second round.
With the Champions League on the verge of becoming the worlds premier footballing competition—even to a certain degree more important than the world cup—the incentives are bigger than ever to be known as the greatest club side in Europe.
I will be watching with interest to see if Manchester United can pull off the first defense of this famous trophy since AC Milan in 1990. Or if one of the other English challengers can pull off another thing that has eluded any one country and that is successive winners from the same nation.
All we can do now is hope that that when we finally start focusing on the football again and not all the stuff that goes on between that whoever does win will do so playing the football we love to see.
Roll on 2009...
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about 1 month ago
I think we are seeing a period of English dominance in the Champions League. The last 4 finals have had English participants and of course there was the first all-English final this year. I really can't see the likes of AC Milan or Real Madrid winning it next season. If Real were to get Ronaldo then maybe, and AC's squad is getting older and older; and the deficiencies of it were laid bare when Arsenal outclassed them at the San Siro.
from about 1 month ago
AC Milan have not qualified.
Reckon Inter and Real are Man utds only challengers though.
about 1 month ago
I can't see continental clubs making that big an impact on the dominance of the English clubs in European competition - other than Barcelona, maybe. If Messi stays fit, unlike the majority of last season. The shadows of Ronaldihno and Eto'o will not be around anymore. Maybe Spanish clubs will get a boost from their home nation being crowned European Champions.
That aside, clubs with the money are rising to the top. I'm afraid that's the stark reality of it. With the TV money in the Premiership and every foreign investor from the USA to Russia to China wanting a piece of the action, clubs are awash with as much money as debt. £11m for Crouch - I'm sorry, but even adjusting for inflation, Shearer cost Newcastle 'only' £15m back in the mid 1990s.
Carlo Cudicini was one of the best keepers playing in England (and still is - if he actually got a game). But he's essentially taking his weekly pay package NOT to play for another club. How many teams across Europe can really afford to do that. The same could be said of Shaun Wright-Phillips - but that theory went belly-up when he actually started to play like he did in a Man City shirt.
Until continental clubs have the cash to offer £150,000k a week salaries willy-nilly, then the balance of power in European football will stay in England. That's not to say the Champions League will be won by an English club every year - but I think the days of Chelsea-Liverpool knockout matches in Europe are here to stay for a while yet.
about 1 month ago
Forgot about that Mark, guess I'm just used to them being it in nearly every year.
about 1 month ago
I think we are going to in for some surprises this season. As Mark mentioned, Inter and Madrid are teams to watch out for. Other teams include Fenerbahce, who got far last season and with the addition of the spanish duo of Aragones and Guiza are a very dangerous team. I don't think can win it but they could knock out a dangerous english side or two.
The tournament is too random and filled with teams with too many good players. Because of the nature of the tournament—with midweek games and home and away ties—it is anyones tournament to win.
about 1 month ago
Real looked great in La Liga last season at times, but can also be wildly inconsistent. Perhaps Atletico will surprise some folks after they finish strengthening their squad this summer.
about 1 month ago
Atletico and Villarreal will both be dangerous, probably more so the latter as they have more recent experience and were semi-finalists last time round (2006).
Bayern Munich have to be considered a threat given their history and big name players.
Real and Barca will always be a danger, and Inter will be serious contenders with the added steel and experience that Mourinho will bring. Also do not write off Zenit St Petersburg, who were brilliant in the UEFA Cup, and if Arshavin ends up staying, who knows?
The 'big 4' will all be a threat of course, but I think its too early to be writing the rest of Europe off just yet. If England have another finalist in 2009, then I will be finally convinced that we are in the midst of a period of English dominance not seen for 25 years.
The Champions League still has the capacity to be unpredictable though in my opinion, and I still have the memory of the 2004 final between Porto and Monaco fresh in my mind. Who would have predicted that in July 2003?
about 1 month ago
I think that trying to predict the CL is like trying to predict a lottery winner. I think nobody can definitively say who will win it up until perhaps the semis (maybe even the finals, maybe not even then!). But, yes, the English clubs would be a force to reckon with, Chelsea will do well - I have my reservations about Man Utd defending their title though.
You can't count out any team as of now. We'll just have to wait and see.
about 1 month ago
The european cup is 60% skill.40% luck.There is a champions league table on the website showing each teams position from games won.There is no glory in doing well on that but its probably a better reflection.
about 1 month ago
OK. Dominance is sustained excellence over a period of time. So I am trying to understand how the EPL is considered the dominant domestic league? In this decade, the EPL has won 2 CL trophies (Liverpool 2005, ManUtd 2008). This competition determines (basically) who has the best top level clubs in Europe. The EPL has won 1 Uefa Cup (Liverpool 2001). This competition determines the depth of Europe's domestic leagues.
So if the EPL is considered the best domestic league with this output, then what about La Liga's Primera? LLP has 3 CL trophies (Real Madris 2000 & 2002, Barcelona 2006). LLP has also 3 Uefa Cups
(Valencia 2004, Sevilla 2006, 2007).
This means LLP has 6 out of the possible 18 European club titles that have been contested in this decade. That is 1/3rd of all possible trophies. We need to re-think what standards we use as a barameter for dominance.
from about 1 month ago
hey bud I said, 'I have begin to wonder if we are not about to witness another period of English domination of the continental game similar to the period between 1977 and 1982 when three different English clubs won six successive European club titles'.
i did not say they were dominating just that they were on the verge. and you opted to leave out that english sides have dominated the last four of the Champions League in the past two seasons and particapated in the last four finals.
the Uefa cup is not really a gauge of footballing domination so mentioning the spanish teams and their wins here means nothing to me, as it is ,really sorry if I offend anyone, a competition for the also-rans to develop in.
I never said the EPL was the dominant league, however your defence in response to what you thought you saw displays your fear that what you thought you read is actually true. i didnt say it ,you did. i would rather see Werder Bremen win the champions league, heres hoping.hahaha.
about 1 month ago
Uefa Cup measures the depth of your league. so if you only have 4 good teams in your league, and the rest of your league is shyte, then you cant have a dominant league. Its common sense.
I was referring to comments on a whole, not just yours. Many mesage boards have the EPL as dominating, but to be dominant you have to sustain it over time, not just a few years.
League 1 football in England from mid 70's to mid 80's is dominance. EPL over the past 4 does is not.
Once again, i am posting in reference to general blog thinking, not your comment in specific.
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