Manchester United and Chelsea the best in the world?
April 30th 2008 23:13
With three of four Champions League semi-finalists coming from England this year, the strength of the English Premier League has been made unquestionable, particularly since two of those teams are now set to contest the final. And, while the two teams that make the UEFA Champions League final are not guaranteed to even be the best in the tournament, let alone the best in the world, United and Chelsea have been immensely successful both at home in the EPL and against international competition this season. Their records in UEFA competition tell the story: Manchester United are 9-3-0 this season and Chelsea aren't far behind at 6-5-1. In short, the English giants are virtually unbeatable.
So does this make them the best in the world? If not, who is? First of all, countries outside of Europe like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina produce plenty of fine footballing clubs, but lack the money and resources to best European competition in the long run. If there is anyone better than Man U or Chelsea, they'd have to come from another continental league, probably one of the big four: France, Germany, Italy and Spain. From this list, it's safe to immediately discard France and Germany as sources of real competition to the Premiership leaders. In some years, French teams work wonders, but this is not some years. Neither is it years past when German clubs were the class of Europe. Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, who have held their own against Manchester United in the late stages of Champions Leagues of recent memory, would be hard pressed to take on either the Red Devils or the Blues this season. That leaves Spain and Italy. From these leagues, five candidates stand out: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Roma, AC Milan and Inter Milan. Since AC Milan and Inter from the Italian contingent (both knocked out by English clubs) and Real Madrid of Spain were unable to make it past the knockout stages of the Champions League, we can cross them off the list. Roma lost out at the quarter final stage to Manchester United, but I'm leaving them in the mix, since they were without Francesco Totti. With the Italian striker in the lineup, Roma might have fared differently
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So does this make them the best in the world? If not, who is? First of all, countries outside of Europe like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina produce plenty of fine footballing clubs, but lack the money and resources to best European competition in the long run. If there is anyone better than Man U or Chelsea, they'd have to come from another continental league, probably one of the big four: France, Germany, Italy and Spain. From this list, it's safe to immediately discard France and Germany as sources of real competition to the Premiership leaders. In some years, French teams work wonders, but this is not some years. Neither is it years past when German clubs were the class of Europe. Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, who have held their own against Manchester United in the late stages of Champions Leagues of recent memory, would be hard pressed to take on either the Red Devils or the Blues this season. That leaves Spain and Italy. From these leagues, five candidates stand out: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Roma, AC Milan and Inter Milan. Since AC Milan and Inter from the Italian contingent (both knocked out by English clubs) and Real Madrid of Spain were unable to make it past the knockout stages of the Champions League, we can cross them off the list. Roma lost out at the quarter final stage to Manchester United, but I'm leaving them in the mix, since they were without Francesco Totti. With the Italian striker in the lineup, Roma might have fared differently
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