Prem giants have only a puncher’s chance against rest(ed) of European elite
THERE are varying yardsticks, but who would you mark down as the real financial superpowers of European football?
In no particular order: Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester City.
Between them, in the opening round of Champions League fixtures, this collection of clubs scored 27 goals and conceded none.
They will all qualify from their groups, most at a canter.
The dominant forces in the major leagues are getting stronger and the rest relatively weaker.
Feyenoord are Dutch champions and were abject against City, Celtic went through a Scottish league season unbeaten, yet PSG were in a different galaxy.
It was an entertaining first set of games, but, even down to Liverpool’s eccentric performance in the draw against Sevilla, a predictable one.
When Jose Mourinho (right) claimed that, for Real, Barca and Bayern, the qualification stages were a “warm-up”, he was correct.
That is the really annoying thing about Mourinho, he is usually right about most things. He will be proved right when the knockout stages, mercifully, arrive in early February. Mourinho believes the Premier League teams will have only a puncher’s chance if they come up against one of the elite at that point. Spot on. In the two months preceding the date of the first, scheduled last-16 Champions League tie, English teams will have played 12 Premier League matches. Spanish teams will have played eight league matches, likewise French teams, while German teams will have played seven. In the middle of a season, there is no way the concentrated workload cannot be a disadvantage.
You can point out the schedules were always like this and Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea all lifted the Champions League trophy over the last 13 seasons.
But, since the last English win in 2012, the superpowers of Europe have become seriously stronger.
Competing against them on an uneven playing field will almost be an impossible task.
Gareth Bale knows what it is like and what it takes to be ultimately successful in the Champions League. He has three winners’ medals in his cabinet.
On more than one occasion, he has been adamant that the absence of a winter break is the defining reason for English clubs’ lack of success. It is an old chestnut, but one that the authorities do not want to crack. Instead, the Premier League club owners and chief executives prefer to waste time on the pointless, unilateral altering of the transfer window. By the way, what if a club suffers a couple of crucial injuries on the opening day of next season, August 11? Rather than three weeks to get reinforcements, it won’t be allowed to buy, meaning the squad will be even more tested up to January 1. Squads will certainly be tested over the festive period this season – with four matches in 10 days. Mourinho finds it almost amusing, smiling when he said: “For Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, now is just the warming up and, in February, when we English teams are trying to survive, after the winter period, they are fresh and ready.” He is right, of course. English clubs have made a good start to the Champions League, but, unless this perennial issue is finally addressed, the chances of them going all the way will become slimmer and slimmer.