“FC Barcelona against England”. It makes reference to the fact that
English Football has managed to place three Clubs out of 4 in the Semi-Finals
of the Champions League. Spanish Football long considered as the “Best
Football League” in Europe has only managed to get one of its teams into the
Semis that being FC BARCELONA & thus indicating quiet clearly that the
“balance of power” has definitely shifted towards the Premier League.
It’s the 5th time in the competitions history that a country has placed three
of its local League teams into the Semi-Finals of the European Cup/ Uefa
Champions League tournament. Adding another piece of fact, it’s the 3rd
consecutive year that English Clubs dominant the Semi-Final stage. The
Premier League & its Clubs have some advantages over the Spanish “Liga”,
firstly in terms of their economic strength with big injections of foreign
investment which exploit the succulent TV rights & merchandising cash flows
that in turn has attracted of late the higher class players. Secondly, the English
Football culture has a more mid to long term view of Football, their
professionals (e.g. Directives/Coaches/Managers) are given & allowed
sufficient time & patience to put in place projects. In Spain the rapid need for
results & success arms the game & it’s professionals with a short term view that
makes Club planning & management difficult, stressful & inefficient. One has
to only compare the time that Coaches in England have steered their teams
– Ferguson & Wegner for example – over Spanish Club coaches who last in
their job a year & at times months. That stability in England at the Directives
& Management level creates an atmosphere of confidence & tranquillity that
trickles down to the players who in turn establish strong ties with the Club in
return.
(photo elmundo.es)
The outlook for the future is unknown but some Football marketing & finance
experts predict that English Football is beginning to decline on the pillars that
sustain it currently. The economic crisis & the huge debts of the big Clubs have
halted the euphoria & maybe signs of a retreat – or a levelling out. Until
then Spanish Footballs only representative FC Barcelona will be flying the flag
of Spanish Football as they attempt to gain their 3rd European Cup, a prize
then Spanish Footballs only representative FC Barcelona will be flying the flag
of Spanish Football as they attempt to gain their 3rd European Cup, a prize
that is only at hand if they can eliminate two English Football teams. The only
fact that can be said right now is that England has a team already in the
Champions League Final at Rome this year, something that cannot be said for
Spanish Football.
Do you agree that English Football is stronger than Spanish Football?
Do you agree that English Football is stronger than Spanish Football?
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4 comments:
I can't answer your question by a simple yes or no :) Quite a few in the media continue to talk about the superiority of the English league but in reality it is just 4 English teams, with a huge foreign influence, that have been performing this well. Outside of the big 4 in England, the rest would struggle in European competitions. For every Arsenal, there are teams such as Blackburn and Bolton that try to kick & foul their way to victory as opposed to having technically gifted players on their squad. I think a better way would be to say that currently the top English teams are playing better football than the top teams from Spain, Italy and France. I would not want to start extending that statement to the rest of the leagues because I still think that Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Seville could handle teams such as Aston Villa, Everton.
And I have often read that the pace of the English game is the reason why they are better but that is not always true -- Villarreal, thanks to Senna, showed amazing pace, especially in the first leg when they played the game at such a high tempo that Arsenal struggled. Porto also tried to play fast but after Lucho got injured, they lost some creativity there.
I think if Madrid, Valencia, Seville, Atletico sorted out their problems, then they could certainly perform better. And like you pointed out that in England, they have had their managers for a while. Ferguson has been in charge of Manchester for 23 years, Wenger has been at Arsenal for more almost 13 years, Rafa has been free to tweak things at Liverpool for atleast 5 years. In Chelsea's case, Jose had strengtened the core of the squad that all they needed was a coach to get them back on track as Hiddink has done. Plus, a lot of the players have been in these English teams together for a while, except Arsenal who have had the most turnaround of their squad in the last 4 years, compared to Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea.
But for now, it is amazing that for the second straight year Barcelona are left to fly the flag for the rest of Europe vs England in the Champs league.
Excellent comments Sachin, insightful & accurate. Agree with you.
Thanks for adding value.
Cheers
Striker
Thanks Striker :)
i dont agree with sachin's comment about aston villa and everton not being as good as sevilla, atletico, and valencia. in my opinion, the spanish and english leagues are regulated very differently leading to different styles of play. these differences make it difficult to assess which team is 'better' and a direct correlation becomes subjective and generally controlled by the way the game is governed. both leagues are fantastic to watch, but for different reasons! uefa/champ league refs have to find a balance and allow both teams to play their game, i believe that recently UEFA have allowed a more aggressive and less 'european' style of football to be played more freely allowing the more knowledgeable managers to take advantage of this. i'm surprised about the lack of good quality german teams at the moment, anyone have any thoughts on this?
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