3 'meh' teams in Euro finals. In the PL just better than the rest?

Tbh Chelsea in the Europa Conference League was a sure winner right from the start (ok, let's say finalist, they haven't won the final yet). They're not the "normal" ECL club, they just had a shit PL season last year.

For the EL : Manchester could've been out already against Lyon in the quarterfinals.
They came away with it in a weird 5-4 match (reminds me of a certain Champions League Final ). And Spurs? They were just one penalty better than Frankfurt, nothing more. Frankfurt could be in the final, too (I don't think that they would've faltered against the Norwegians in the semi-final). So, yes, the Premier League has a probably winner in the ECL and a sure winner in the EL now but otherwise? No finalist in the CL for the 2nd year. And let's be honest: The CL is what counts in Europe, not the ECL or EL. PSG eliminated 3 Premier League clubs in a row in the CL, only Manchester City could escape them (because they were eliminated before).


The Bundesliga itself had last year 2 finalists in the EL and CL (seems that the German clubs don't take the ECL yet serious because we're shit there ) in Dortmund and Leverkusen.
Yes, they lost both finals to the "evil" Madrid (But Dortmund were at least level in this match if not better) and Bergamo (which destroyed Xabi Alonso's perfect season with Bayer).
This year we have no semi-finalists in the CL (like the Premier League had no semi-finalists last year) and the EL. Shit happens

 

I think people are really downplaying the importance of having nothing to play for in the league.

Europe 'returned' on March 6th and at that point, Spurs and United were both 11 points off a European spot and 15 points clear of the relegation zone. Their league seasons were dead. If they had something to play for or were in more immediate danger, we'd see them secure more points since then. But for both clubs, it's opened up for them this season in terms of placing all their eggs in one basket.

United played Lyon and Bilbao on this run, both clubs were/are in fights for CL spots. Juggling two things at once. Spurs played Frankfurt, another team battling for a CL spot in their league.

Annoying really as both clubs should be punished for their poor league performances after some handsome spending but one of them will 'get away with it'.

 

I've made the point a lot in recent weeks and generally also over the years but the reality is that the top four leagues are so strong now in comparison to the rest of Europe. If it hadn't been us, Manchester United and Chelsea then it just would have been another Spanish, Italian or German club to win it instead.

Olympiakos last season was a rare feel-good story in football but the greed has caused us to leave the rest of Europe behind.

39 of the last 40 Champions League finalists have come from just four countries. The only exception are moneybags PSG. The Champions League hasn't been won by a team outside of those countries since Porto in 2004.

It's marginally better in the Europa League in terms of finalists but again, the last 13 winners have been from just four countries (England, Spain, Italy, Germany). The last team outside of those countries to win it was Porto again (20111).

Our league campaigns have been particularly poor but Manchester United and Spurs would have been two of the favourites to win the Europa League at the start of the competition and so it has proven. Both are better than their league position in all fairness but they're definitely better than most of the teams in Europe and in all honesty I think whichever qualifies will get decent results in the Champions League next season too.

Even the less established English teams (non "top 6") have typically done well in European football over the last ten years. I think Villa, Leicester, Wolves and Brighton have all played knockout football in Europe and West Ham have obviously done particularly well. Newcastle are the only ones I can think of to have qualified and not had a particularly good European campaign.

We'll probably have two new faces in European football next season (Forest +1) that'll have a good crack at Europe too. There are some BIG clubs in the likes of Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Turkey, Greece etc that can no longer really compete with those top leagues. Maybe on an one-off day but they've struggled reaching finals and it seems even more improbable that they'd win a European competition.

Hopefully the new format does freshen it up as without the drop-outs from the higher European competition it does give teams a better chance but the state of European football is still a bit shit. There's been a lot of fuss about the Europa League finalists this year but really, an all Premier League final is nothing new. All of the "top six" have been to at least one European final in the last ten years and so have West Ham.

 

First there was no 5th placed team headed for the cl Last year.

Second we put the conference position to the league.

Utd won the cup

Our europa teams were utd (8th), spurs (5th)

Our conference team was Chelsea (6th)

It's not a shock that mega bucks clubs could compete with clubs with less money

However

Lfc (3rd) last 16 lose to psg
Villa (4th) qf lose to psg
Arsenal (2nd) sf lose to psg
City (1st) last 32 lose to real madrid.

If that pen shoot out for lfc or one more goal for villa then we would be looking at an English side in the final.

There was a luck for the draw element to the cl but we all lose to the fastest and most intense team in the competition

 

Yes it is. If has taken the mantle from la liga and with all the money in the league, will more than likely be the best for a long time

 

European competitions are a joke slowly ruined by EUFA & Media greed , there was nothing wrong with the Champions of the Country they represent ie Liverpool next season being in the Champions League then 2nd place in their respective countries in Europa League ( atm Arsenal ) & Palace representing the country in Cup Winners Cup how it used to be , it's so diluted now it's a joke , 18th or 19th in English Premier League representing the country in next season's Champions League , dear oh dear !

 

Over the past decade la liga miles ahead.

Which Leagues Have Won the Most European Trophies? - Sport Makers

 

Depends how you judge it. The Premier League & La Liga are the two strongest leagues, but La Liga itself hasn't been dominating per se, just Real Madrid & Sevilla have been pre-eminent in either main competition.

In the past decade the Premier League has had 3 different clubs win the Champions League & with 4 different clubs in total making finals. La Liga has had 1 club win, and another club make the final, 10 seasons ago. That's the same amount of different clubs from La Liga making finals as Serie A & Bundesliga.

In the past decade the Premier League has now had 3 different clubs win the Europa League, with 5 different clubs making finals. La Liga has had 3 different clubs win it, with no other clubs making the final.

This season will be the first time a La Liga team has made the Conference League final, while it will be the 2nd different English finalist, the other already winning it.

So you could judge it solely by winners, where Real Madrid are doing a lot of (at times extremely lucky) heavy lifting, or by the stronger cohort of clubs able to make it deep across all the competitions.

 

A second French club winning the European Cup, meaning France now has the same number of different clubs who have won the European Cup as Spain. It also has had a further three different clubs make finals, compared to two from Spain.