The Champions League final has been decided, with Barcelona set to take on Juventus at the Olympiastadion. Despite Sky and BT forking out a record-breaking £5.136 billion in order to broadcast the Premier League live, much of which went into the clubs’ pockets, English sides appear to have fallen far behind their European rivals in the race for domination on the biggest stage.
Long gone are the days of an all-English final – one of England’s representatives reaching the semi-final stage is now likely to cause shock, but things weren’t always so bad for the Premier League in Europe.
Here is a run-down of how English sides have fared in the Champions League over the last 10 seasons:
2005/06
The 2006 tournament was perhaps not the best year for Manchester United, who exited at the group stage after finishing bottom of their group, while Chelsea and Liverpool also crashed out of the tournament at the round of 16, following tricky ties against Benfica and Barcelona.
However, it was arguably Arsenal’s best ever season in Europe. The round of 16 saw Arsene Wenger’s side matched up against a Real Madrid team still boasting the likes of Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, Raúl, Ronaldo and Luis Figo, who were undeniable favourites to progress. However, a 1-0 victory at the Bernabeu was enough to see them through to the next round.
A 2-0 aggregate victory over Juventus and a 1-0 victory over Villarreal saw Arsenal qualify for their first ever Champions League final, having avoided defeat throughout the tournament. Although, a tough game against Barcelona ended the North London club’s cup dreams.
The game saw Arsenal shot-stopper Jens Lehmann sent off after just 18 minutes, although it was the Gunners who pulled ahead through Sol Campbell. Arsenal looked set to clinch it, until a quick-fire double put Barcelona in the lead late into the second-half.
It wasn’t to be Arsenal’s year, but it certainly kick-started a great few years for English sides in the competition.
2006/07
The 2007 tournament started brightly for the all four of the English clubs in the competition, with Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal all finishing at the summit of their groups. Arsenal were the only team to exit the competition early, following a 2-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven in the last-16, while the others all continued to progress.
Chelsea knocked out Porto and Valencia, Manchester United defeated Lille and Roma, while Liverpool navigated past Barcelona and PSV, and fans would often be heard singing the “Champions League, we’re having a laugh” chant as their side dispatched yet another European rival from the competition.
The semi-final stage saw three of the four available slots taken up by Premier League sides. Manchester United were paired against AC Milan, while league rivals Chelsea and Liverpool were matched together, which was made all the more interesting by the ‘ghost goal’ incident that had handed Liverpool a win in a Champions League semi-final clash against Chelsea a few years earlier.
A 5-3 aggregate victory over United saw Milan progress to the final, while the other tie went all the way to penalties, and misses by Arjen Robben and Geremi saw Liverpool progress. Similarly to Arsenal the previous year, Liverpool failed to overcome their opposition, with Milan clinching the trophy following a 2-1 victory.
2007/08
For the second consecutive year, all four English sides in the tournament progressed into the knock-out stages. In fact, all four sides progressed into the quarter-finals, and had the draw gone differently, they could have all progressed to the semi-finals as well.
However, things didn’t work out, and Arsenal and Liverpool were drawn against each other. A 5-3 aggregate victory for Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool side saw them through to the semi-final stage, while victories from Manchester United and Chelsea, over Roma and Fenerbahce respectively, also saw the sides progress, meaning for the second year running 3 of the final 4 teams left in the competition were from the Premier League.
Manchester United was drawn against Barcelona, which set up a replay of the previous year’s clash between Liverpool and Chelsea. The game was once again a tight affair, but Chelsea clinched the victory in extra-time, meaning that they would face domestic rivals Manchester United in an all-English final.
In a match that is certain to go down in the history books, even if Chelsea fans would prefer to forget it, normal time was unable to separate the 2 sides and penalties ensued. Petr Cech had saved Cristiano Ronaldo’s attempt, which handed club captain John Terry the chance to clinch the cup. However, an agonising slip as he kicked the ball saw his shot hit the post, before Nicolas Anelka’s penalty was saved, handing United the win.
The competition may have ended badly for Chelsea, but it had certainly been a fantastic year for the Premier League.
John Terry’s slip cost Chelsea the Champions League trophy.
2008/09
The following year saw the Premier League continue its domination of the Champions League, with all four sides progressing to the quarter-final stage. For a third year running, Liverpool and Chelsea came face-to-face in Europe, with the Blues once again progressed following an entertaining 4-4 draw in the second-leg.
Chelsea were drawn against Barcelona in a game that proved to be hugely controversial, as referee Tom Henning Ovrebo failed to award the Blues 4 penalty shouts following a number of pulls, grabs and handballs by the Barcelona side. The matter was made worse when Andres Iniesta scored deep into extra-time, which saw the La Liga outfit move on to the final.
The other semi-final saw Manchester United romp past Arsenal following a 1-0 home victory followed by a 3-1 victory away, which was the first time Arsenal had lost a game since moving to the Emirates Stadium.
Barcelona sailed past the Red Devils in the final, securing a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi, which kick-started Pep Guardiola’s highly-successful managerial reign, as well as the Premier League’s decline on the continental stage.
2009/10
Not much had appeared to change at the start of the tournament, with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal progressing through the group stage with ease. However, a number of tricky match-ups quickly saw things begin to crumble for the English sides.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea side were the first team to lose their place, as they were dispatched by eventual winners Inter Milan, led by then former, now current coach Jose Mourinho, with ease during the last-16. Although, things continued to go to plan for United and Arsenal, who progressed following huge wins over AC Milan and Porto.
However, the quarter-finals proved to be the end of the road for the two Premier League sides, who were unable to navigate past re-emerging sides Barcelona and Bayern Munich, which meant that for the first time since 2002/03, no English side would be appearing in the Champions League semi-finals.
2010/11
Again, all four of the sides representing the Premier League made it through to the knock-out stages with ease, although it was once again made clear that England had lost their Champions League dominance to the Spanish league.
It was an unlucky year in terms of draws for the English sides, and had things have gone differently there may well have been at least two English sides in the semi-finals once again. However, Chelsea were drawn against Manchester United in the previous round, and Sir Alex Ferguson’s side cruised into their second successive final after a victory over Schalke. Again, it could be suggested that United had been given an easy ride to the final, and if they had been drawn against Barcelona or Real Madrid in the semis then it could have very well been an all-Spanish final.
Barcelona once again asserted their superiority, this time securing a 3-1 win over a Manchester United side that struggled to cope with their tika-taka play.
2011/12
The 2012 tournament provided Chelsea with the one trophy that had been missing from their collection for so long, making them the first London-based team to claim the Champions League trophy. However, the way in which they went about winning it was far from the fantastic attacking master-class that we had come to expect from the usual tournament’s winners.
The tournament started badly for the two Manchester clubs, who failed to make it out of the group stages, while Arsenal were also dispatched by AC Milan in the last-16. Chelsea also appeared to be on their way out of the competition in the first round of knockout fixtures, following a 3-1 defeat to Napoli. However, the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas rejuvenated the Blues, who overturned the result to progress.
Following a reasonably easy quarter-final against Benfica, Chelsea met Barcelona again for the first time since the 2009 tournament, and appeared to have hit another brick wall when John Terry was shown a red card in the second leg, amid a barrage of pressure from the La Liga outfit. However, some desperate defending and two counter-attacking goals saw Chelsea through.
The final matched Chelsea against Bayern Munich, who would be playing the final at their home stadium. Few predicted a Chelsea victory, as they once again attempted to withhold an onslaught from their opposition, and fewer predicted a Chelsea victory when Bayern pulled ahead. However, a very late Didier Drogba equaliser saw the game go to penalties, with the Ivorian tucking away the 5th to hand Chelsea the title.
Whether it was sheer luck or a tactical master-class, Roberto Di Matteo’s Blues went all the way, but they have never been able to drop the ‘anti-football’ name that came with it, neither have they been able to reach the same heights again since.
2012 saw Chelsea lift the cup, following defensive displays against Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
2012/13
This year was when things really started to go downhill for the Premier League on Europe’s biggest stage. Manchester City failed to progress further than the group stage for the second year running, finishing bottom of their group with just 3 points.
It was also set to be a miserable year in the Champions League for Chelsea, who also crashed out at the group stage, making them the first cup holders in the tournament’s history to exit at the groups the following year. The club went on to win the Europa League, making them the first team to hold both of the European trophies at the same time, but that was no consolation for what was a disappointing attempt at retaining their title.
Manchester United and Arsenal did make it through their groups, but that proved to be all that they did, after crashing out of the tournament at the last-16 stage to Real Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively. The draw was tough on both sides, but it only showed how much the German and Spanish giants had progressed since England’s glory days.
2013/14
The 2013/14 competition was a vast improvement on the previous year – in terms of the displays that Premier League sides have been putting in of late, it was certainly one of the better tournaments, yet it did not come close to their earlier dominance.
All four teams made it through to the last-16. However, tough fixtures awaited for Arsenal, who faced Bayern Munich, and Manchester City, who faced Barcelona, and the German and Spanish sides once again outdid their English opposition. Things were a little easier for Manchester United and Chelsea, who progressed at the expense of Olympiacos and Galatasaray respectively.
Bayern Munich cruised past David Moyes’ sloppy United side in the next round, while Chelsea found yet more luck when Demba Ba toe-poked the ball into the back of the net to overturn a 3-1 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the first-leg. However, Atletico Madrid, the third best team in Spain, proved too much in the next round and dumped Jose Mourinho’s side out of the tournament.
2014/15
This year’s tournament once again proved just how much the Premier League has declined in Europe in recent years. Liverpool failed to make it out of the group stage after returning to the tournament for the first time since 2009/10, while Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City also saw their European dreams come to an end in the round of 16.
There has been a clear decline in recent years, with Bayern Munich and Spanish duo Real Madrid and Barcelona dominating proceedings in the Champions League. However, the slump has become so bad that it is no longer just these heavyweight sides that England’s biggest clubs have to worry about. For example, Liverpool struggled to overcome Swiss side Basel in their group, while Chelsea and Arsenal were dumped out of the tournament by French clubs PSG and Monaco.
English sides are clearly struggling in Europe, and the transformation from Europe’s most dominant league to unlikely outsiders certainly hasn’t happened overnight. There are clear problems, and if they aren’t solved soon the Premier League risks falling even further behind Serie A and Ligue 1 in the charts.
Barcelona will face Juventus on June 6 in the 2015 Champions League final.