As a Englishman it hurts me to say this but the current crop of Premier League sides in the Champions League are light years behind their La Liga counterparts.
However as a football fan I enjoy watching Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Qualification
Real Madrid and Barcelona have qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League at a canter.
While the only English team guaranteed a place in the last 16 of the competition is Arsenal. I think this says a lot about the quality of our big teams.
Quality
At the moment Real Madrid and Barcelona are the top two teams in Europe. Barcelona have of course been described as arguably the best club team ever and we all know how good the Catalans have been in recent years.
They have been so good that not even Real Madrid could get near them in La Liga. However under Jose Mourinho the tide seems to be changing and Real are looking like a formidable force. Their team is relatively young and in the next few years I believe that Mourinho’s side will give Barcelona more of a run for their money in all competitions.
Stars
The names of the team sheets of Barcelona and Real Madrid says it all really. Barcelona have two of the three best players in the world in Xavi and Lionel Messi. Their capital rivals have Cristiano Ronaldo among their ranks.
English teams can’t really compete with that. Manchester United have Wayne Rooney, but he’s not even in the same league as Ronaldo or Messi in terms of quality or productivity at the moment.
Struggled
Premier League Champions Manchester United were played off the park by Barcelona in last seasons Champions League final. The Red Devils failed to improve the area of the pitch they most needed to improve, their midfield.
This season they have lacked creativity in midfield and are crying out for playmaker in midfield. This need doesn’t show when they play poorer teams but when they come up against better opposition it stands out like a sore thumb.
Even Premier League leaders Manchester City are struggling to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League, despite spending hundreds of millions of pounds on players in the last couple of seasons.
Chelsea are going through a transitional period under young boss Andre Villas-Boas but could go out of the Champions League, if another La Liga side Valencia defeat them at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has longed to win the Champions League trophy but it doesn’t look like the Blues will win it this season.
Best
There has long been a debate about which league is the best La Liga or the Premier League. La Liga has the two best teams in Europe and a very effective Valencia but then the rest of the teams are similar in quality.
There are more teams likely to challenge at the top of the Premier League than in La Liga but the Spanish league has the edge in technically gifted players. The likes of Juan Mata and David Silva are now plying their trade in the Premier League because Barcelona and Real Madrid couldn’t fit them into their squads.
In fact, Mata left Los Blancos when he was 20 because they didn’t think he was good enough to make the grade at the club. Silva was longed linked with a move to Barcelona but it never happened and he ended up at Manchester City.
Unfair
Maybe I am being unfair on the English teams in the Champions League comparing them to the current Real and Barca teams. Barcelona have been the dominant force in European football for the last three seasons.
And I believe that the current Real Madrid team could go onto great things in the future under Jose Mourinho. They are currently playing some breathtaking football and it’s not the usual style of football we have come to expect from Mourinho’s teams in the past.
Bet
I’m not really a betting man but I know I currently wouldn’t be backing any of the English teams to beat Real Madrid or Barcelona in this seasons Champions League. Spanish football is enjoying a golden age of football and that’s reflected in the quality of the top two domestic teams the country has produced.
For England though, we have a long way to go to catch up to Spain in both club and international football. Sad but true England is not at the top table of European football anymore and it’s starting to show.
Are English teams far behind their Spanish counterparts?
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