The finals of European club soccer’s three continental competitions will be set this week and there’s a strong chance there won’t be a single English team involved. There is no Premier League representation in the final four of either the Champions League and Europa League.
Aston Villa are the lone hope, and appear likely to exit the Europa Conference League semi-finals after losing the first leg at home to Olympiacos.
This is somewhat peculiar given the Premier League’s standing in club soccer. It is undeniably the strongest – and certainly the richest – league in the world. Manchester City won a Treble last season while West Ham won the Europa Conference League. The best managers work in the Premier League and, by and large, the best players play in the Premier League.
So what’s the explanation for the lack of English representation in the latter rounds of Europe’s continental competitions this season? Is it possible that the unmatched strength of the Premier League makes it harder for its teams to go the distance in European soccer? Do teams from Spain, Germany, Italy, France and the rest have an advantage?
Of the three teams left in the Champions League, Borussia Dortmund are the only ones with something still to play for in their domestic league. Ironically for the finalists, that’s a European spot. Paris Saint-Germain were already crowned Ligue 1 champions prior to their Champions League capitulation to Dortmund. The teams that will meet Dortmund in the final include Real Madrid, who have been crowned La Liga champions, and Bayern Munich, who lost their grip on the Bundesliga title race a long time ago.
When Real Madrid faced Manchester City in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final, Carlo Ancelotti had the freedom to rest several key players in the prior league fixture. Indeed, Brahim Diaz, Joselu and Nacho Fernandez all started against Mallorca three days before travelling to the Etihad Stadium.
City, on the other hand, had no such freedom and fielded a full-strength side against Luton Town because they couldn’t afford to take their foot off the pedal in a Premier League title race that is expected to go down to the final day of the season. Erling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne and Ruben Dias all started that match.
It was a similar story for Arsenal who were denied the opportunity to rotate their squad before facing Bayern Munich in the final eight of this season’s Champions League. Of course, the Gunners are in the thick of a Premier League title race and had a tricky game against Aston Villa sandwiched in between the two legs against Bayern.
In the Europa League, Bayer Leverkusen have benefited from wrapping up the German title early by rotating their squad in between continental matches. Liverpool, on the other hand, didn’t have the same luxury as they suffered a quarter-final exit at the hands of Atalanta. West Ham also exited the competition before the semi-finals.
Aston Villa were firm favourites to go all the way in the Europa Conference League such is the strength of their squad, strong domestic form, and Unai Emery’s record in continental competition. But they face an almighty task to overturn a 4-2 deficit against Olympiacos away from home on Thursday. The Greek side are now expected to make the final.
Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have long rallied against the number of domestic matches English teams have to play when compared to some of their counterparts around Europe. Most other countries don’t have a League Cup like England does. Bundesliga teams also play four fewer league games per season than Premier League sides.
However, the wealth of the Premier League should, in theory, allow its teams to build bigger, stronger squads to handle the number of matches they have to play. Manchester City, for example, were able to handle the absence of de Bruyne and Haaland earlier in the season when most other teams would have been crushed as a consequence.
Most likely, this season was merely an anomaly. City won the Champions League last season. There has been at least one English team in five of the last six Champions League finals while Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United have all made the Europa League final over the last five seasons. The rest of European soccer should enjoy having the place to themselves – it’s likely the Premier League cohort will be back at the top soon enough.
