Kevin LustigManchester 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.
So that leaves us with Barcelona and Roma. Neither is a strong case for being able to take down the class of the Premiership, since both have fallen over two legs to Manchester United. The stronger of the two, Barcelona, looked fierce at times, but it's also a club with myriad problems in the locker room and is likely to be at least partially dismantled in the summer. The club name has connections to historical greatness, but if the question is who is the best on the field today, I think you'd be hard pressed to pick Barca. Roma also struggle under scrutiny, since even with Francesco Totti, they may be unable to top Inter to the league title and they haven't even been the best in Serie A since 2000/2001. Furthermore, in recent matches in recent seasons, Manchester United clearly have Roma's number. Chelsea hasn't faced the Italians of late, but they certainly seem up to the challenge with their depth and skill. Without other serious contenders, I think with a healthy Francesco Totti, Roma's the club that's most likely to beat Manchester United or Chelsea.
If you don't feel the co-leaders of the EPL are the best, you have to admit they're not far from it. As for me, I say there's none better in the world. So what do you think? If you've been paying attention, you'll notice that I haven't mentioned the likes of Arsenal, Juventus, Porto and Valencia, among others. Should they be in consideration? Is one of the clubs I've eliminated actually the best? Who's better than Man U and Chelsea? Leave your comments and let the debate begin . . .
UPDATE: Here's some more data that would seem to confirm this theory. From m&c sport:
England top UEFA coefficient . . .
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.
So that leaves us with Barcelona and Roma. Neither is a strong case for being able to take down the class of the Premiership, since both have fallen over two legs to Manchester United. The stronger of the two, Barcelona, looked fierce at times, but it's also a club with myriad problems in the locker room and is likely to be at least partially dismantled in the summer. The club name has connections to historical greatness, but if the question is who is the best on the field today, I think you'd be hard pressed to pick Barca. Roma also struggle under scrutiny, since even with Francesco Totti, they may be unable to top Inter to the league title and they haven't even been the best in Serie A since 2000/2001. Furthermore, in recent matches in recent seasons, Manchester United clearly have Roma's number. Chelsea hasn't faced the Italians of late, but they certainly seem up to the challenge with their depth and skill. Without other serious contenders, I think with a healthy Francesco Totti, Roma's the club that's most likely to beat Manchester United or Chelsea.
If you don't feel the co-leaders of the EPL are the best, you have to admit they're not far from it. As for me, I say there's none better in the world. So what do you think? If you've been paying attention, you'll notice that I haven't mentioned the likes of Arsenal, Juventus, Porto and Valencia, among others. Should they be in consideration? Is one of the clubs I've eliminated actually the best? Who's better than Man U and Chelsea? Leave your comments and let the debate begin . . .
UPDATE: Here's some more data that would seem to confirm this theory. From m&c sport:
England top UEFA coefficient . . .
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Comment by Robert Kidd
The Beautiful Game
Comment by Kevin Lustig
Champions League Watch
Real Madrid just haven't been themselves in Europe since they started to disintegrate a couple of seasons back and I don't know if they're likely to return to the amazing form they had in the early 2000s any time soon. But you're right, they do put on a show in Spain week in and week out. Maybe I shouldn't have discarded them so easily . . .