England's elite on the brink of something special as Europe's powerhouses struggle for dominance
As the Champions League approaches the knockout stages, there's a rising sense that power is shifting in the direction of the Premier League once again
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Your support makes all the difference.Across the hierarchies of the top European clubs, especially in Spain, they’ve taken note of a distinctive change in the Champions League. Indeed, what was once seen as the preserve of these elite clubs is now being prised from their very hands. That is the top spots of the Champions League groups that are currently being dominated by English clubs. By Thursday morning, it may well be a first for first places.
The club game’s premier competition could see the unprecedented situation of five clubs from one country winning their groups.
Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have already guaranteed first place for their respective groups, while Chelsea are already guaranteed qualification and can go into next Monday’s draw as seeds if they beat Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge or at least match Roma’s result against Qarabag.
Manchester United will stay top of theirs if they claim a home win over CSKA Moscow or similarly match Basel’s result against Benfica, while Liverpool will do likewise with a victory at Anfield over Spartak Moscow or by equalling Sevilla’s result against Maribor.
It is all the more striking because it doesn’t just mark a change for the Champions League, but also for Premier League performances in it. From what was a fairly soul-searching half-decade of no winners, which saw just two semi-finalists and a lot of early eliminations, England’s European representatives are now showing real promise on the continent.
Even if it doesn’t translate into ultimate triumph or even similar domination of the latter stages, it does mark a significant step forward due to the nature of it.
Sure, you could say it’s down to an element of random chance and some relatively forgiving groups, but that was not what defending champions Real Madrid were thinking when Tottenham Hotspur rampaged through them in their very tough group, nor Atletico, the 2016 finalists, when Chelsea so assertively charged over them in theirs.
They and other top clubs do somewhat worriedly believe it could be the first visible effects of all that broadcasting money, and the elite coaches that that money brings, with that worry only sharpened by what is happening at Paris Saint-Germain.
There would be a fairly simple sense of inevitability about that. Superior management is always going to eventually bring superior results, especially after a season’s work with a team and all that brings in itself, regardless of the rigours of an English season.
Even allowing for Tottenham’s recent slump, Mauricio Pochettino has clearly shown a learned adjustment to European football with how his side have so calculatedly countered anew, while Antonio Conte has tinkered and probed possible approaches with Chelsea in a similar way, one shambolic defeat to Roma notwithstanding.
There is then what is happening at Manchester City, who might well be the best side in Europe right now, playing a style of football beyond everyone in Europe. Many at the top level of clubs across the continent believe that, too, feeding into a wider worry about how they may in time struggle to compete against the state-funded financial power of City and PSG.
The caveat to all of this is that it’s still just the group stages and that even if first places potentially make your last-16 match easier - although that is something not guaranteed this season due to the very fact so many other top clubs will by consequence finish second - it is the knockout stages where it really gets going, where the competition starts to ramp up a notch.
That’s when one bad night against one good team, even if off-form, can render a campaign irrelevant.
It does not mean this season’s trend so far is irrelevant. The rest of Europe certainly doesn’t think it is. It’s just up to the English clubs now to make it concrete, and set a new precedent.
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