UEFA hosted their Elite Club Coaches Forum on Wednesday at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, and featured past and present coaches such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Sergei Rebrov, Max Allegri, Carlo Ancelotti and Rafael Benitez to discuss the modern game. Former Sevilla coach Unai Emery - now of Paris Saint-Germain - was also present there along with the current LaLiga managers Luis Enrique and Zinedine Zidane, as Sir Alex Ferguson heaped praise on the Spanish clubs.
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"It's obvious that you can't rule out Bayern or Manchester United, but Real Madrid and Barcelona are wonderful teams," he was quoted by Madrid-based newspaper Marca, adding, "they dominate and take the reins in European football.
“A strong and powerful Juventus should also be taken into account”, added the Scot
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It is very hard to disagree with the Scot because Real Madrid and Barcelona are dominating world football let alone European football. Madrid won the UEFA Champions League in 2016 and 2014 and Barcelona have won the Champions League 3 times (2009, 2011 and 2015) in the last 8 years and have majorly swept away all the collective and individual honours.
Sir Alex Ferguson won the Champions League with Manchester United back in 1999 and 2008. There was a time when English clubs dominated the latter stages of the Champions League.
Liverpool reached the final in 2007 and won the competition in 2005, still remembered as one of the iconic European finals. In the 2007-08 season there were 3 clubs from England that reached the semi-finals. The next season (2008-09) also saw 3 clubs from England in the Champions League when Barcelona defeated Manchester United 2-0 in Rome. So clearly we can understand why Sir Alex made a statement about Barcelona’s rise.
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The Scot also believes that games that finish tied after 90 minutes should go straight to a penalty shootout, instead of the exhausting extra 30 minutes. Ferguson chaired the forum and spoke on a lot of issues, including fatigue and the amount of games young players play, with the former Manchester United manager suggesting that extra-time should be removed altogether.
"I don't think we like to see players exhausted in extra-time and when the whistle goes at the end of 90 minutes, I've always the feeling it's going to go to penalty kicks," Ferguson said in Nyon.
"You saw in the last Champions League final, players walking about... it's inevitable that it goes to penalty kicks so the question is how we can improve it?", concluded the Scot.
