Home comforts

It seemed an unlikely prospect at the beginning of the competition, but after witnessing Arsenal and Chelsea’s travails in Italy it appears likely that there will be no English teams in the last eight of the Champions League this season.
Manchester City can consider themselves unlucky to have been pitted against Bayern Munich, Napoli and Villarreal in the group stages, but they will nevertheless rue their underachievement in a first major European appearance. Neighbours United, meanwhile, had no such misfortune with the draw, yet seemed intent on sleepwalking their way through the group stages until they were humiliated in Basel. For the two London clubs, the competition has merely facilitated a continuation of the dismal league form that sees them fighting to retain their status at the top table for next season.
So what does this say about the current state of the Premier League? In all probability, the situation will be reversed next season, but there is no doubt that the English stranglehold on Europe’s premier tournament has been broken in recent years. In every year since 2005, at least one Premier League team has featured in the semi-finals of the competition (United, Chelsea and Liverpool all reached the last four in 2008), and there has been only one completely non-English final during this period. Until recently, the English dominance was matched only by four-times winners Barcelona, but the re-emergence of the historical superpowers of European football (Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Real Madrid) alongside other, less-regarded but nevertheless highly talented young teams (Napoli, Benfica, Apoel) has served to challenge the complacency of the Premier League big guns.
In modern football, success usually correlates with substantial investment, and on this basis it seems puzzling that the top teams from the world’s richest league have failed to compete in Europe this time around. However, TV rights provide the most significant form of revenue to the major leagues, and it is of no apparent coincidence that Barcelona and Real Madrid, (arguably) Europe’s top two teams, come from a league where this money is distributed based on the amount of TV revenue each club generates, rather than it being shared out equally, as is the way in England.
Unsurprisingly, Real and Barça are now the two richest clubs in world football. Whether their joint-monopoly of La Liga is to be of its detriment in the long-term is another matter entirely, but their overwhelming financial dominance has clearly contributed to their on-field success. Distribution of wealth in England, meanwhile, may have done little to encourage the prospects of consistent domination of Europe by one or two extortionately rich English teams, but it has made the Premier League more competitive and certainly more entertaining to watch.
The Spanish monopoly has served the big two well, but their dominance has forced many of the smaller sides into administration, and the dour, routine nature of the La Liga season is of stark contrast to the current unpredictability of the Premier League. Though we may bemoan the failings of English teams in Europe this season (not least as Real or Barça go on to lift that grand trophy in May), perhaps there is some solace to be taken in the prosperity of our domestic game.