English Domination On The Wane?

So after the last round of Champions League games, the semi-finals line-up was finalised. We’ve got Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Lyon- Spanish, German, Italian and French representatives. Interestingly, no English team remains.

This time last year, the teams left in the semi-finals were Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester United. And in 2007/2008, the teams left were Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. And the year before? Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Milan. And in 2005/2006? Arsenal, Barcelona, Milan and Villarreal. A trend was started in the 2003/2004 and wasn’t broken until this year- that of an English team being present in at least the semi-final stage. Now that this trend has been broken, does it tell us anything significant?

Some have argued that the English ’strangle-hold’ on the Champions League has been loosened, while others have argued that this season is nothing but a temporary blip. FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, would hope it was the former. He has always been uncomfortable with the dominance of English teams, understandably. Not that he’s anti-English, no; he just thinks one particular country dominating the competition is not good for the game. Would he feel the same if it were Spain, not England, dominating? Probably, I’d say, giving him the benefit of the doubt.

So, temporary blip, or what?

Chelsea were knocked out in the last 16 stage, Manchester United and Arsenal in the quarter-finals, and Liverpool didn’t even make it past the group stages. None of the English teams were knocked out because of questionable refereeing or anything of the sort. Let’s face it, they were knocked out by the better teams. Will it be more of the same next season?

Looking at Liverpool, they have had a terrible season up until now and I do not think it came as a surprise to anyone to see them out of the Champions League when they were. Having lost Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard due to injury for large parts of the season, they haven’t looked like a team good enough to compete at the kind of level they have in the past.

Chelsea? Their ageing squad were knocked out by Inter, managed by their ex-manager and ‘tormentor’.

Manchester United on the other hand, were knocked out by Bayern even though at one stage it looked as if they were cruising to the semi-finals.

Arsenal, shorn of a number of key players through injury, were outclassed by Barcelona for majority of the tie. They’d argue though, that if the draw had been kind to them and they had drawn any team other than Barcelona, that they would have gone through to the semis. Who knows?

What is clear though, is that the English teams have been weakened this season. All of them, apart from Chelsea, lost key players at the start of the season and have arguably failed to replace them adequately. United lost Tevez and Ronaldo, Arsenal lost Toure and Adebayor, while Liverpool lost Alonso and a few others. Chelsea may not have lost any players, but they failed to add to their squad and had to start the season with a new manager. Consistency from last season to this season has been missing from all these teams. This is also reflected in the performances in the domestic League. The competition in the Premier League may have been stiffer this season, but these teams have lost more games this season than one would expect, taking into account the increased competition.

It might have been easier for the Big 4 to get away with not adequately strengthening their teams as far as the Premier League is concerned (Liverpool excepted), but they have been able to escape in Europe. Other teams have either bought new players or have maintained the same management structure and squad as the previous season, giving them more scope to develop on their success. It may not be the only reason for their success, but it has certainly not handicapped them.

Having said all that, I do expect the English teams to dominate the Champions League next season. Not expecting an all-English final, but I am pretty sure that at least one of them will be in the semi-finals. They’ve had their season in the ‘Wilderness’ and you would think they would not be making the same mistakes they made this season in the next. They have managers who have been there before and know what it takes to get back there. So I’ll stick my neck out and say that this blip will be over next season.

Barcelona V Arsenal – Game Of The Century?

After the first 15 minutes of Part 1 of this highly anticipated Champions League tie, one would have been forgiven for thinking that Part 2 would merely be a formality. Arsenal were completely dominated from the off by Barcelona and if not for the heroics of the much-maligned goal-keeper, Manuel Almunia, would well have been 4 goals down. But as has become customary of the Arsenal team this season, they remained strong in the face of adversity, slowly got back into the game and went into half-time on level terms.

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