Once upon a time in a far off decade, English teams were the best in Europe.

That all seems a million years ago now, as we depressingly watch England’s best stumble and fall from grace in Europe year after year, with more success seen on the wheel at Roulettegeeks.com.

You would think otherwise, wouldn’t you? When you consider the power of the Premier League, the money, the wealth of talent within those top, elite Champions League teams and that the Premier League is supposed to be the best in the world, you would rightly consider the fact that one of them would be able to win it, or at least make it to the final.

Not so. The last English team to win it  was Chelsea in 2012 against a top Bayern Munich side. Yes, Chelsea had to equalise and yes, it went to penalties, but Chelsea still came out winners under Roberto Di Matteo’s guidance. Last season was an unqualified disaster, with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all being knocked out in the last 16.

[ffc-gal cat=”premier-league” no=”5″]

In the last five years, the facts show us that we have had two finalists, three semi-finalists and one winner. Only three English teams made the quarter-finals over the past four years and only Chelsea made it to the semi’s as eventual winners in the last four years. Gloomy reading.

However, the demise of English teams means that other countries have taken over, most notably, Germany and Spain. According to BBC Sport – in the last five years, the Bundesliga has produced 40% of finalists and Spain’s La Liga 30%, with the Premier League at 20%.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are tough opponents for any team, but the English teams find it completely mesmerising as they succumb to the Spaniards. Manchester City have felt defeat at the hands of the Spanish and in all probability, Arsenal are about to find out how it feels when they take on Barcelona. We would all love to see Arsenal overcome the power of Messi and co, but deep down I think we all know how which way it will go.

Manchester City go to Kiev, Chelsea to PSG (again) -both difficult ties – not that there are easy games anymore. It would also be preferable had Arsenal played in Spain first and then at the Emirates, but that’s life.

Manchester City will recall Dynamo Kiev in 2010/11, when the Ukranian side beat them 2-1 on aggregate, as Arsenal recall meeting Barcelona before. In the 2009/10 season, Barca beat the Gunners in the quarter-finals as Messi scored four times in the second leg.

Can we really see any of our three progressing? Manchester City might, if they avoid defeat in the away leg, and the same goes for Chelsea. To knock out the likes of PSG and their classy side would certainly be an achievement because the French side have their eyes firmly on the Champions League, as they run away with the domestic league title. Do I see any English Champions League winners? No, I’m afraid not. The last eight and no further, perhaps.

So, if the English teams are failing, is there fault somewhere? Is it the lack of homegrown talent, as Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal use fewer UK nationals in the Premier League than anyone else? Is it because the Spanish and the Germans get a winter break?

They’ve had winter breaks for years over in Europe, but that hasn’t stopped English teams winning before. I read somewhere that by the time Bayern start their break and then come back, Manchester City will have played around eight competitive matches. So shouldn’t they be on form and ready in that case? There are pundits and ex-managers who think the winter break is a good idea – Gary Lineker amongst them. We’ve never done that before and as it’s not broke, don’t try and fix it, but you know it will happen one day. What will we do without our Boxing Day and New Years games?

The number of talented homegrown players is also in decline, as teams consistently prefer to buy from abroad. They buy technically gifted and cheaper talent, while, in some cases, it appears their own academies are overlooked. There is some redress in the Premier League, but not enough and nowhere near enough at the level of Champions League.

It isn’t quite the same with the foreign teams, as they seem to include and nurture their own players far more. But can we keep blaming these situations? Surely by now, these teams have been in the competition often enough to know the ropes? They haven’t just arrived from a different planet without knowing how it works. So change it.

Fortunately, in terms of UEFA’s coefficient rankings, we are still behind Spain, but ahead of Germany and Italy and we therefore keep that extra place.

The Germans and the Spaniards always seem to hurt the English sides and they probably will again this season as well. With the three English teams, you have two Italian, three Spanish and two German teams, all of which look a lot stronger than our teams.

It’ll be interesting, but let’s hope it’s not too embarrassing.

[ad_pod id=’writeforus’ align=’center’]