Debate: Time for the 6+5 in the Champions League?

10th March, 2009, 20:45 CET. Four of the eight Champions League first knockout round, second leg ties are being played. English clubs Liverpool and Chelsea are in action against Spanish and Italian heavyweights Real Madrid and Juventus, respectively.

Both English clubs have narrow leads over their rivals from the first leg, only Liverpool gained their advantage at the Bernabeu, and Chelsea's at their own ground Stamford Bridge.

You just got that feeling that both Real and Juventus could fight their way back into the ties, especially the Spanish side who were playing away and could have grabbed an away goal back.

10th March 2009, 22:35 CET. Both Liverpool and Chelsea are in the Champions League quarter final draw. Surprised? No, I never was either.

Liverpool deserved to qualify. They produced a stunning display against a toothless Real Madrid side who never looked likely to mount any form of fightback.

Steven Gerrard got on the scoresheet twice, with Fernando Torres and Andrea Dossena also grabbing a goal apiece to complete a score of 4-0 on the night, and 5-0 on aggregate; not a score you usually associate with the Galacticos.

Chelsea, on the other hand, got lucky. I watched the entire match and throughout they were second best. Yes, they had a legitimate goal ruled out, but the refereeing of the game was so appalling by both the on-field official and his linesman that it equalled the game out somewhat.

Iaquinta opened the scoring after a beautiful pass from David Trezeguet; at that point the refereeing had been standard. After this goal, the Spanish official lost control of the game completely.

Play was stopping every 30 seconds for the pettiest of fouls (though not helped by constant simulation of players from both sides, though it has to be said Chelsea were far more guilty of this than their opponents).

His linesman missed the fact that the ball had crossed the line quite blatantly after a Drogba free-kick. The same linesman then failed to spot a Juve player kick Essien after the ball had run out of play.

Giorgio Chiellini got sent off for a second booking, which was quite ridiculous; the Juve defender had played the ball. To top it all off, after a Del Piero free kick was deliberately handled inside the box by substitute Juliano Belletti, play was stopped for a good 90 seconds before any decision was made—and no player was booked!

Chelsea seemed to benefit from the shambolic refereeing; its unlikely Drogba would have netted an equaliser for Chelsea were Chiellini still on the pitch, and arguably it should have been Chelsea with ten men had Belletti been sent off.

Tomorrow night it looks likely that two more English clubs will go through; A near enough full-strength Manchester United take on an Internazionale team at Old Trafford with just two fit central defenders; one of which was so out of his depth in the first leg he was taken off at the half-time break.

Arsenal meet AS Roma again in what is a closer tie, but an English win is widely expected nonethless.

That will make the same four English teams in the quarter final for the second year running, and quite possibly all four in the semi-finals. Although a Manchester United-supporting Englishman myself, I am fed up and bored of the predictable nature of the Champions League and want to see some change.

The biggest problem I can see is the low percentage of English players playing for top English clubs. Liverpool had just two Englishman start tonight, and the same amount of Spanish players as Real Madrid.

Madrid themselves do not have many home grown players, but because of their Galacticos dream, this is an anomaly in Spanish football.

Chelsea were not much better; fielding just three English players from the start. Juventus started six Italian players; this should be a minimum, and I am in favour of the 6+5 rule proposed by Fifa.

Many complain the English domestic league would be "boring" with the rule imposed. As entertaining as it is, how many English players do you see in the Serie A or La Liga (with the exclusion of the on-loan David Beckham at AC Milan)?

The only British player I can think of is Steve Finnan at Espanyol who hasn't exactly made an impact either through injury or simply not making the grade.

The rule would allow a more balanced and truthful view of English football. Arsenal will likely start either none or one Englishman tomorrow night against Roma; is that a realistic view of English football? I don't think so.

It would be a real test for one, let alone four English clubs to advance to this stage in the Champions League if "6+5" was put into play.

Manchester United, and I don't want to be bias, are the best of all four English clubs for nurturing young British talent. They have a lot of British players in their Champions League squad with the likes of Ferdinand, Scholes, Giggs, Rooney, Gibson, Evans, Welbeck, O'Shea, and Foster, to name but a few.

However, they are still too reliant on foreigners; they are a visibly better team when the likes on Berbatov, Tevez, Evra and especially Ronaldo play.

Arsenal have lots of young talent, but maybe being blooded too early. Although Wenger has to start somewhere and, I feel, should be applauded for raising the English kids rather than buy experienced ones.

The team may not win in Europe (or domestically) straight away, but in time they will be achievers.

English fans need to wake up to this fact and it's saddening to see the game is purely about entertainment now. I agree it should be, but football has its roots and tradition, and it's a sad sight to see an "English" club fielding few or no English players.

It will be interesting to see next season if Aston Villa qualify for the Champions League—can their primarily-English squad deliver the goods in Europe? It would be entertaining to watch and would be a real evaluation of how good English football is compared to other top-level leagues.

And I for one would have pride in watching a real English team play at the highest level.