Even a consolation prize can elude the best league in the world. Or it’s the most viewed and the most expensive, anyway. Even as other English teams beat an embarrassing relegation from Europe, it was long expected that Aston Villa could claim the Conference League, as if the competition could evolve into a Premier League fiefdom.
If Olympiakos had other ideas, a 4-2 win at Villa Park served to demonstrate that high-quality teams can be found at the business end of any continental competition and that, in domestic leagues, their revenue and For all the differences in personnel, some great and even European knockout ties, they are 90 minutes away from completing a year of English underachievement in Europe.
Some statistical evidence emerged on Wednesday after Borussia Dortmund’s victory over Paris Saint-Germain meant that the Bundesliga, like Serie A, has secured fifth place in next season’s Champions League. If the assumption was that this was an inevitable thing that the Premier League would get, it has been debunked. There were other pointers: for the first time since 2012-13, only two English clubs qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League. For the first time since 2013–14, there were no semi-finalists from the Premier League in the two major continental competitions.
There are degrees of failure, some of them punishing, hubristic and shameful, others more understandable and resting on the fine margins. Some were confined to a single evening, others spread over a continental campaign. The common difference is elimination: seven clubs faced and, barring a great fightback in Athens next week, an eighth. For the world’s richest league, the Premier League can be taxing of a different kind: injuries and fatigue due to its intense nature could hold them back in Europe. But given the wealth its clubs enjoy, and the envy of the rest of Europe, more was expected, with few expecting an English sweep of trophies.
And if the obvious conclusions can be ignored the chance that, with a more conventional penalty from Bernardo Silva in the shootout, Manchester City could still be in the Champions League and favorites to win it. Yes, moments can achieve turning point status. Penalties can be a theme: the spot-kick conceded by Douglas Luiz and the one he conceded for Villa against Olympiakos, for example, or the 98Th A minute controversially awarded against Newcastle to deny Paris Saint-Germain victory in France. Marcus Rashford’s red card against FC Copenhagen when Manchester United were 2-0 up was somewhat unfortunate, although it was the right decision. Mohamed Salah was lacking against Atalanta when he could have put Liverpool 2-0 up as they looked to overturn a 3-0 deficit.
But collectively the Premier League has punched well below its weight. Manchester United are the chief culprits, landing in what, apart from Bayern Munich, looks to be perhaps the weakest pool in the Champions League and yet poised to push through. It was their worst European campaign to date. Liverpool produced one of their worst ever continental results as they were beaten 3-0 by Atalanta at Anfield. For Villa against Olympiakos, as captain John McGinn put it: “Everything that could have gone wrong.”
Other losses were more forgivable. West Ham went out to perhaps the best team in Europe this season, the unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen. Newcastle failed to qualify from the Champions League’s group of death and the sides who did so now compete in the semi-finals. Roma’s 4-0 thrashing of Brighton was embarrassing but historically, such contrasting clubs were on different planes. Arsenal were a bit down in their shock exit at Bayern Munich, but they head to one of the European superpowers. City may feel they are the better team over the two legs against Real Madrid.
And yet English teams barely beat the best teams in the Champions League. There were wins over second-tier teams such as Sevilla, Porto, PSV Eindhoven and RB Leipzig, but in 12 matches against Dortmund, Bayern, Real, PSG and AC Milan, they managed just one: Newcastle’s Kylian Mbappe and his teammates were defeated 4-1.
So it is worth remembering that 6 of the 12 founding members of the Super League came from the Premier League. Two of them, Chelsea and Tottenham, did not even qualify for Europe this season. Third, Manchester United won the only game in it. He set the tone for a season when English clubs FC Copenhagen, Galatasaray, Olympiakos, AEK Athens, Atalanta, Roma, Porto, Bayer Leverkusen, Freiburg, Toulouse, Lens, Lille, Legia Warsaw and Union St. have lost to Of whom he was invited to this private party.
But the Super League was a treacherous attempt to subvert the rules of the competition. Places in the European semi-finals and finals are up for grabs. Some Premier League clubs must have been unlucky. Some got what they deserved. It has been a poor season in Europe for England though.
Credit : www.independent.co.uk
