Europe's supposed strongest league won't have a representative in the last four of football's biggest cup competition, which is a damning indictment
After four breath-taking ties of the highest quality, the line up for this season's Champions League semi-finals has been confirmed, along with the fact that there won't be an English team appearing in the showpiece event at Wembley on June 1. This is only the eighth time in the past 25 years the final four has not included a single Premier League club, and the first time since 2019-20, which suggests something has gone badly wrong.
In fact, a Premier League side has lifted the Champions League trophy in three of the last five editions, and there have been two all-English finals during that time. Manchester City were the holders, but relinquished their crown after an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to 14-time winners Real Madrid, while Arsenal went down without much of a fight against Bayern Munich.
Make no mistake, their failure is a disaster for English football. The spending power of the Premier League dwarfs the rest of Europe's 'Big Five' divisions, and so they attract all the best players and managers, and provide the tools for them to thrive.
A failure of this magnitude is, therefore, inexcusable. Madrid and Bayern's unmatched experience at this level told in the end, as they managed to bust the myth of a Premier League empire through a mix of discipline and tactical nous. Worst of all, it doesn't feel like a anomaly, but rather a clear sign that a serious power shift has taken place.
Getty/GOALCity won't break stride
In the case of Man City, there is no reason to panic. Pep Guardiola's side camped in Madrid's half for the best part of 120 minutes in their second leg of their quarter-final, mustering 33 shots to the visitors' eight while enjoying 68 percent of the possession.
Rodrygo opened the scoring early after a swift Real counter-attack, but they barely had another sniff of goal, and it felt like just a matter of time before City got back into the game. The only surprise was it took until the 76th minute, when Kevin De Bruyne blasted the ball high into the net from close-range after a botched clearance from Antonio Rudiger, and Real then continued to ride their luck to force extra-time.
City passed their opponents to death, as they do to most teams, and Real were on their knees collectively by the time the final whistle blew. Los Blancos defended for their lives to force penalties, and showed nerves of steel to come out on top with the added pressure of taking theirs in front of the fervent home supporters.
It was a cruel way for City's double-treble bid to end. The only real difference between this contest and the second leg of the semi-final tie between the two clubs last season, which City won 4-0, was that they failed to take their chances.
Guardiola will no doubt get a strong response from his players in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final showdown against Chelsea. City are heavy favourites to progress, and to go on and win their record-breaking fourth successive Premier League crown, and rightly so.
The threat of serious punishment from their 115 FFP charges case, which is due to be heard this autumn, still hangs over everything. But there is no denying City's status as an elite team, and exiting the Champions League won't knock them off their stride.
The same cannot be said for Arsenal, however…
AdvertisementGetty ImagesArsenal fold again
Guardiola insisted that he had "no regrets" after City's European exit because "we did everything" and "played exceptional". Mikel Arteta was also left bemoaning the "small margins" after Arsenal's 1-0 defeat in Munich, but unlike those of his former mentor, they were hollow words.
Arsenal were lucky to escape with a 2-2 draw in the first leg on home soil, and didn't deserve anything from the second. The Gunners started well, but Bayern were in the ascendency by the time the half-time whistle blew, and they controlled the game in the second 45 minutes, with Joshua Kimmich heading home the decisive goal after ghosting in unmarked to meet a Raphael Guerreiro cross at the back post.
Much has been made of the improvements Arsenal have made as a collective since narrowly missing out on the 2022-23 Premier League title, with William Saliba shaking off his injury problems and club-record signing Declan Rice adding a new dimension in midfield, but they are still naive in the biggest games and lack real strength in depth.
Arteta's men didn't look like a team motivated to right the wrongs of Sunday's 2-0 loss against Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium, which handed the initiative in this season's Premier League title race back to City. The likes of Bukayo Saka and Ben White, who have barely missed a minute of action this term, were clearly exhausted in the latter stages at the Allianz Arena.
There would usually be no shame in being outfoxed by Bayern, but Thomas Tuchel's team have been a disjointed mess for much of the campaign, despite Harry Kane's record-breaking scoring exploits. They've been beaten to the Bundesliga title with five games to spare, sitting 16 points behind the new champions Bayer Leverkusen, and were dumped out of the DFB-Pokal in the second round by third-tier outfit Saarbrucken.
"I think we have the capacity and the quality to be in the semi-final," Arteta added. "When you look historically, it took other clubs seven, eight or 10 years to do it [make the Champions League semi-finals]."
If Arsenal aren't good enough to beat this version of Bayern, it could very well take them another 10 years to make the last four. The reality is, Arteta is no closer to delivering the biggest titles after investing over £200m in his squad last summer, and that doesn't reflect well on the strength of the Premier League.
Getty ImagesMajor coefficient blow
From a statistical standpoint, City and Arsenal's European misery has already had a damaging effect on the Premier League. Germany were only just ahead of England in UEFA's coefficient rankings heading into this week's set of fixtures, but they now have a commanding lead.
The top two nations will receive an extra Champions League spot for the 2024-25 season – which will see the tournament expanded to 36 teams – with Serie A and the Bundesliga set to benefit as it stands. It will now take a minor miracle for England to overtake Germany, who have two teams in the Champions League semis as well as Leverkusen on the brink of a last-four berth in the Europa League after winning the first leg of their quarter-final against West Ham 2-0.
Liverpool are also in real danger of crashing out of the Europa League after a 3-0 defeat to Atalanta at Anfield. At the moment, Aston Villa are the only English team in a strong position to go on and clinch continental silverware, as they head into the second leg of their Europa Conference League quarter-final against Lille with a 2-1 aggregate advantage.
It's a sorry state of affairs for English football, of course not helped by Manchester United and Newcastle's humiliating group-stage exits in the Champions League back in December. Serie A champions-elect Inter went out in the last 16 alongside Lazio and Napoli, but Italy will likely have two representatives in the Europa League semi-finals, as Roma and Milan prepare to face off again to likely join Atalanta in the final four, while Fiorentina could still win the Conference League.
If the Premier League is the best in the world, why is it not reflected by the performances in Europe? The answer is clear: Man City are the only top team in England right now, and the gulf between them and the chasing pack is likely to only get bigger.
Getty ImagesTransition time at Anfield?
For the last six years, Liverpool have been the main challengers to City, pipping them to the post for the 2019-20 title and finishing as runners-up on two occasions. They appeared on course to dethrone City again just a few weeks ago as one entry in a potential quadruple, but missed a golden chance to pull away when playing out a 1-1 draw against the champions at Anfield after laying siege to their goal.
Jurgen Klopp's side were then beaten in the FA Cup quarter-finals by Manchester United, and failed to avenge that defeat in the league as they were held to a hugely disappointing 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, which they followed up with the shocking display against Atalanta and a 1-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace.
All of this means that Liverpool could now finish the campaign with just the Carabao Cup to show for their efforts. They are third in the Premier League standings with six games left to play, two points adrift of City and just behind Arsenal in goal difference.
The situation is salvageable, but City have the easier fixtures on paper and history suggests their recent winning run will continue. Whatever happens, it could be a while before Liverpool get this close to Guardiola's side again.
A new era will be ushered in when Klopp officially walks away from his Anfield post at the end of May, after nine years of box-office entertainment and tangible success. It would be a huge surprise if the Reds don't go through a transitional period, regardless of who is brought in to replace the beloved German, with speculation over the futures of star players such as Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk now building.
If Liverpool do decline, who looks capable of taking their spot in the top-four? Manchester United, Newcastle and Chelsea have all fallen well short of expectations this season, while the jury is still out on whether Tottenham are ready to reach the next level under attack-minded boss Ange Postecoglou. It's entirely possible that the Premier League will be an even weaker competition by this time next year.