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The UEFA Champions League is club football’s elite competition in every sense of the word.
With its distinctive home and away format, the Champions League is a whole different ball-game that calls for immense tactical planning, experience and a combined team effort to emerge victorious in the biggest club competition on the planet.
The fact that the tournament throws up a different winner every season just shows how arduous it is to win in Europe.
Looking at the quarter-finalists of this season’s Champions League, the line-up is conspicuous by the absence of English teams.
Also, this is the first time since 1996 that the Champions League quarter-finals don’t feature an English club.
Of course, Chelsea won the competition last year, but what’s concerning is that the Blues were the lone English team to feature in the quarters then.
And with no English presence at this stage of the competition this year, is it fair to say that top English teams are not bankable in Europe with competition like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid?
Does this mean that top EPL teams are no longer potential challengers for the Champions League title? Definitely not.
Well, I might be jumping the gun but with the EPL’s high-flying status, you’d expect the English clubs to dominate akin to the 2007-08 season when three English teams were semi-finalists (Manchester United eventual champions).
What sets the EPL apart is the fact that there are at least five teams capable of winning the domestic title every season which makes the league all the more intriguing and competitive unlike the Serie A, Liga BBVA and the Bundesliga.
But this is sport and the fortunes of teams follow a cyclical pattern so it would be premature to write off teams from the most-watched league on the planet just yet.
With an ambitious owner at the helm, Chelsea is currently going through a transition phase. They are expected to settle into a formidable unit by the beginning of next season.
Manchester United, despite going down to Real Madrid (controversially, maybe) recently, is still a potent force in world football and with the indefatigable Sir Alex Ferguson in charge, there’s no stopping the Red Devils.
Fashionable Manchester City is the perfect example of a team struggling to come to grips with the competition in Europe despite their recent success in the EPL.
With a wealth of talent and skill in their ranks, they probably need a new manager to boost their performances in Europe.
The quality of Arsenal has unquestionably declined in recent seasons. It’s probably time for the astute Arsene Wenger to move on because what the club needs is a fresh new approach.
Liverpool, like Arsenal, has been inconsistent and if you put Luis Suarez’s heroics aside, the club would be languishing at the bottom of the ladder.
The last two seasons in Europe may have been disappointing for English clubs but I believe this is just a glitch.
England still outranks Spain, Italy and Germany in terms of overall quarter-final, semi-final and final appearances in Europe.
So there’s no crisis at all and the EPL still possesses immense quality and it’s just a matter of time before teams such as Manchester United and Chelsea begin to dominate Europe’s leading club competition.
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