Only our teams are tested in the heat of Prem frying pan ...watch Champions League serve up another full English!
I’VE seen so many people on social media this past week agreeing with my assessment that this is the best Liverpool squad of all time.
And yet they’re also asking how the hell can they stop Manchester City! It’s absolutely mad.
What it shows you though, is just how strong the Premier League is right now.
That kind of puts things into context – almost certainly the greatest Liverpool squad of all time, and undoubtedly the best City team and squad of all time.
No wonder the rest of Europe are moaning about the inequality of it all.
Which is kind of rich (pun intended!), given that Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Milan and PSG have all at various times had more money than sense in the transfer market.
What they don’t have right now is the intensity of the Premier League; the sheer drive, ambition and total commitment to 90 minutes at that level, which seems beyond the other European clubs.
I saw it first hand working as a TV pundit for the InterLiverpool game.
I said beforehand that I knew for sure Jurgen Klopp’s last words before his team stepped on to the pitch was for them to go out and compete first and foremost, to let their will and ambition come through.
I’m not saying that the other European sides don’t have quality.
Of course they do, and on any given day great players can have their moments to win games, so the English sides are not unbeatable.
What I’m saying though, is the English clubs now have all the incredible quality that we’ve seen at Barca or Madrid or Juve… but allied to the intensity of the Premier League, and the experience of playing at that level week in, week out.
Real Madrid don’t face that level in their own league very often, PSG certainly don’t, and neither do Bayern at the moment.
Yet Liverpool know that when they face Burnley, for instance, they have to be ‘on it’ just as much as when they face Manchester City. The intensity is the same, even if the quality isn’t.
It was clear that Inter matched
Liverpool’s intensity for an hour in terms of what they were doing to compete. But it takes more than that.
Klopp’s side have got different levels they go to, so can you match them stride for stride all the way through?
It was clear Inter couldn’t.
I can remember back to that incredible Champions League semi-final against Barcelona, and Lionel Messi saying, in the documentary, even before the second leg that he feared his side couldn’t match Liverpool’s intensity for a second time in a week.
Chelsea also have that physical conditioning and mentality to beat the likes of Real, as they showed last season, and they look absolute bankers to go through to the quarter-finals this week.
I’d go further too. I know Manchester United have been bang-average this season, and they certainly do have problems.
But they have quality and they are used to that intensity of the Premier League, so they can use it to their advantage too. I’d say Atletico Madrid will be very wary of that.
Atletico just couldn’t live with Liverpool this season, and even though normally you’d make them favourites, I’d argue that United have a psychological edge that can get them through. It’s fascinating to see.
If the question in England is how Liverpool can stop City then the bigger question in Europe is just how anyone can stop the English?
It’s a golden era I suspect, one of those cycles where a country becomes utterly dominant.
More usually that means just one club from a country, but I think this is more reminiscent of the mid-70s to mid-80s, where four English teams got to the final nine times in 11 seasons, and between them won it on seven occasions.
English clubs are showcasing what they are about. They’ve all got a bit of grit to their quality.
I think the only thing that stops another all-English final is the draw… and our clubs beating themselves.
face Real Madrid don’t
we the level of intensity have in the Premier League, PSG certainly
do don’t and neither
Bayern at the moment