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If a survey is ever sanctioned to note how many people across the world experience goosebumps while the Champions League theme song is played, you’d wonder if something is fundamentally wrong with those who answer ‘No’. In a deafening crescendo, the anthem urges and commands the champions of Europe in English, French and German to step forth and conquer Europe.
Football doesn’t get bigger than winning the Champions League trophy and being crowned the best in the continent.
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Since its inception in its initial form, Spain and England have enjoyed a good share of the spoils in the tournament; the magnificent trophy has graced Spain with its sparkling presence 15 times, three times more than its visit to the Queen’s empire – England.
With the paparazzi of the two nations always eager to declare their league as the best in the world, a plain statistical debate raised with respect to the performance of the two leagues in the Champions League in the last decade shows a clear transfer of power from the EPL to La Liga.
Why, in the last four years itself, just three English teams have managed to reach the quarterfinal stage, with a complete no-show of English squads last year. Contrast this to at least two Spanish sides making this round in the same time period, and you know which one of the strongholds is crumbling.
Calculating co-efficients
The prestigious fourth spot – being allowed to field the top four teams from its league – is accorded to the top three associated country’s leagues in Europe. How is this decided, you ask? UEFA awards each associated country a co-efficient score based on the performance of their teams in the Champions League – extra points awarded for qualifying for the Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of the tournament – and also the Europa League.
The coefficient value is, in simpler and shorter terms, an average score obtained by: dividing total points obtained, by the number of clubs representing an association in the two club competitions this season. This total is then tallied with the results from the last four seasons. And that is how the magical number is arrived at.
Why magical number? The top three countries on this coefficient chart are then allowed to play four teams in the Champions League – the fourth team having to undergo a playoff to enter the group stages.
England has long enjoyed this privilege. However, the changing fortunes of the country's clubs suggest that this position, too, now lies in danger. The Italian Serie A is closing in on the EPL, looking to nudge them from their third position on the coefficient points table.
Currently, England holds on to a mere 4.054-point lead with a coefficient score of 65.659, with Italy’s score of 61.605 beginning to look quite ominous for the English.
| RANK | COUNTRY | POINTS | CLUBS IN UCL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain | 86.427 | 4 |
| 2 | Germany | 68.177 | 4 |
| 3 | England | 65.659 | 4 |
| 4 | Italy | 61.605 | 3 |
| 5 | France | 45.749 | 3 |
| 6 | Portugal | 45.582 | 3 |
| 7 | Russia | 43.682 | 2 |
This lead for the English has been aided by Manchester United’s triumph over Club Brugge and the simultaneous loss of Lazio against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the playoffs. What this meant is that the English have all four of their teams participating, while Italy is being represented by just two.
The coefficient value will change, however, with the performances shown by the teams from the respective leagues in this year’s edition. And judging by England’s first match week results, the signs do not look good.
Three out of the four EPL teams took a beating, with Chelsea being the lone winner for the English. Manchester City lost 1-2 to Italy’s Juventus, the bigger battle of England vs Italy thus taking an interesting turn. AS Roma’s 1-1 draw with Barcelona earns Italy brownie points as well.
The ball now lies in the English court; whether they will score and hold on to the third spot is a question that will be answered at the end of the season.
But what are the factors that have led to the English empire standing on shaky ground, and the simultaneous rise of Spanish supremacy? There are quite a few of them.
Player power
When players of the ilk of Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Xabi Alonso depart from a team, the humongous abyss left behind is bound to remain unfilled for a very long time. In the case of Arsenal and Liverpool, the gaping hole left in the wake of their star players’ exit still exists.
The signs of this shift of power players from EPL to the Spanish League – for reasons that vary from enormous paychecks to wanting to be a part of a star-studded team – should have acted as an indication of things to come.
Gareth Bale has seen his stock as a world-class player scorch the global market after moving to Real Madrid in 2013. And Liverpool’s talisman during the 2013/14 season, the volatile genius Luis Suárez, moved to Barcelona in a staggering €81 million deal.
While EPL’s poaching of Sergio Aguero and David Silva (Manchester City), Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal), Diego Costa and Pedro (Chelsea) and David De Gea (Manchester United) has ensured that the glitz and glamour quotient of the league remains intact, there is no denying the fact that the team sheets of La Liga sides Real Madrid and Barcelona resemble the Ballon D’Or nomination list.
Without taking anything away from the exceptional skill set that the EPL teams possess, standing up to the holy trinity of MSN (Messi-Suarez-Neymar for Barcelona) and BBC (Bale-Benzema-Cristiano) is at the very best nightmarish for any defence. Add to these trinities Carles Puyol (retired), Andres Iniesta, Xavi (transferred), Gerard Pique, Ivan Rakitic, Toni Kroos, Sergio Ramos, James Rodriguez, Iker Casillas (transferred) and Luka Modric, and you have your ‘guardians of the Spanish football galaxy’ cast present.
Triumphing against players of such calibre is no mean task; this imalanance could be one of the reasons why EPL teams are lagging behind at the highest level in the Champions League.
Intensity vs tactical football
Yes, this debate could go on for centuries without a clear winner in sight; however, given that the Spanish teams are performing exceedingly well right now, the balance is tilted just that much more in favour of technical, tactical brilliance on the football field.
English football will always be known for its intense game plays – exciting runs, fantastic looking goals, long balls, hard tackles; it is a true test of one’s physical and mental prowess. The game is never over until the final whistle is blown – a case in point being the Leicester City vs Aston Villa game on September 13.
Trailing 0-2 in the 62nd minute, Leicester staged a fairytale comeback into the match to win the game 3-2 at the end of 97 minutes of relentless, determined play.
On the other hand Spanish football, to put it in the words of Spanish football journalist Jordi Quixano of El Pais, is “of a much higher technical standard.” It is all about intelligent gameplay for Spain – short, crisp passes, scintillating dribbles, building a goal from scratch to finish. It is all about team chemistry here.
What this means is that while English football may be the more attractive one to watch, the teams tend to lose steam when pitted against their technically superior Spanish counterparts who always have their strategies well-planned out and a plan B, C and D to back up them up in case plan A fails.
In some well-calculated moves the La Liga teams have been able to thwart their English opponents within the first 70 minutes of the game (Barcelona vs Manchester United – UCL finals of 2009 and 2011), all the while playing beautiful yet intense football, controlling the game through their attack.
English teams have often been guilty of not taking the attack to the opponents, waiting to leap on a chance and score on the counter. A research study carried out on the playing tactics in the English Premier League, La Liga and Italy’s Serie A concluded that teams from the La Liga adopt a positional attack offensive play in comparison to those from EPL that tend to play more often on the counter-attack.
It is their quality that allows Spanish teams to triumph the way they do.
Breeding talent
Where does this quality come from? It can’t be that England has stopped producing players of class and eminence; it is simply that Spain has a much more refined academy system that helps breed young talent of a superior class. Scouts are sent across the country to identify new talent, and a number of tournaments are held that help these youngsters inculcate the Spanish football culture.
Each league team has its own youth academy that is run on the principles of providing holistic football skills to the players. And one needn’t look further than Barcelona to realise that three of the best players in the world – Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi – are products of their youth academy, La Masia.
The English youth academies pale in comparison to the ones in Spain and those in the other European countries such as France, Germany and Italy. The very few notable players of quality produced in England include Jack Wilshere and Raheem Sterling.
Jam-packed schedule
Another factor that goes against the English teams is their claustrophobically tight playing schedule – a burden not shared by the Spanish teams. Not only does the EPL begin earlier than the La Liga – a 2-3 week gap separating their start – the concept of winter break is not something the English are familiar with. While the Spaniards get to rest their feet a while during the festive season, EPL teams are busy competing not just in the Premier League, but in the FA Cup and League Cup as well.
Given the intense, physical play that is demanded in the EPL and with a playing schedule that leaves just enough time for the players to breathe, the level of play needed for the Champions League matches is often seriously lacking. What such a maddening schedule also means is the players are more prone to injuries; thus, fielding your best team in a UCL knockout match isn’t something that is control of the manager most of the times.
While injuries are a universal issue in the world of football, the winter break and more relaxed playing schedule of the La Liga allows its teams to come back for the knockout stages fresh and energised; a fact visible in their results.
These are but a few factors that immediately spring to mind when one looks at the dominance displayed by the Spanish teams in the Champions League, and EPL managers have many a sleepless night to spend as they think of ways to counter this trend. A well-oiled academy system will mean more quality players that can be rotated among the various competitions that EPL teams are involved – saving the best for the Premier League and Champions League.
While a drastic change in the gameplay isn’t possible, emphasis on defence and a more strategic style can only pay rich dividends. Time is running out fast and if the first game week of the Champions League 2015/16 is anything to go by, England may be left with the option of fielding just three teams in this prestigious event in the future.
