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English Dominant in Europe Once More
150 short years ago, the British were at the forefront of the industrial
revolution and had an Empire that spanned the globe. Queen Victoria may not
have approved of the nationalities on show in the Champions’ League, but she sure would have approved of their dominance. With all but the exception of Arsenal, English clubs were rampant in Europe and
as well Sepp Blatter was watching at Old Trafford, for that is the epitome of
English dominance.
Liverpool put an ageing Madrid side to the sword, convincingly and emphatically,
particularly in the home leg. Rafa Benitez may not be able to prepare his team
domestically, but in Europe – they are a cut above. The result achieved in the Bernabeu effectively won the
tie, the Madrid players never looked like they believed they could win, and
with Juande Ramos in charge, who can blame them?
For Manchester, Fergie may have won the war (and the battle in Milan a
fortnight earlier), but in terms of tactics, Jose Mourinho once again pipped
him. If it hadn’t been for a makeshift defence, an ageing midfield and an all-time bottler up
front – Inter may well have beaten United. But there lies the answer; those were
Inter/Roberto Mancini’s players, not Mourinho’s. In fact Jose did well to keep the tie open, with some inspired substitutions
that had The Stretford End’s feathers ruffled on more than one occasion.
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With Chelsea, an invaluable home performance was enough to see them through,
this despite some bizarre tactics by Guus Hiddink. I don’t know who exactly Hiddink thinks he’s managing, but these players probably aren’t too experienced in ‘the Ajax way’. Starting with four of the most central of central midfielders you could ever
wish for – John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard (on the left), Michael Ballack and Michael Essien
(on the right), nearly put-paid to their European fortunes, against a
lacklustre Juventus. In fact had it not been for Drogba’s goal that never was (leading to the evoking of the sensational team spirit of
the side from Mourinho’s era), I wonder if Juve might have nicked it.
As for Arsenal, well it wasn’t anything new. Failure to convert chances into goals, leading to just a dubious
penalty, was all they took to Rome. Roma scored a goal in front of their own
fans that Arsenal would have envied, but couldn’t find the second. The lottery of the shoot-out was always going to favour
Arsenal and so it proved. Wenger’s Gunners won’t be returning to Rome at the end of May if they don’t convert their chances.
So who can stop this mighty army? Well, if Blatter has his way they’re all be playing each other in the Quarter Finals, but realistically Barcelona
and Bayern Munich have proved that they are ready for Britannia. The clubs of
course will be preying on who gets Porto and Villareal but it’s likely one English club will have to prove their dominance once again for one
of the strongest Champions’ League line-ups in years. CM
(c) ChrisOnline.biz 2009
