If Manchester City can win this seasons Champions League, or if Arsenal or Leicester do, they will be the sixth English club to do so. This is testament to the strength of the English game. The trophy has been brought back to English shores on 12 occasions, 6 of these were on the trot in the late 70’s early 80’s. The Heysel disaster brought an end to English dominance.
La Liga has the most success in the biggest club competition in world football with 16 victories, however only Barcelona and Real Madrid, have taken the trophy back to Spain. Serie A is joint second with England on 12 cup wins, but they can claim 15 runner’s up medals to our 7. Germany’s Bundesliga is fourth with 7 championships and the Netherlands have 6 trophies.
The draw for the Champions League is done and dusted and English clubs have had mixed blessings. Manchester City got possibly the easiest draw they could have had with a tie against Monaco.
Leicester had a tough draw against Europa Cup holders Sevilla, but will be happy to miss out the big boys. But regrettably Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal will face one of the big boys, Bayern Munich for the fourth time in 5 years despite winning their group.
Despite Manchester City’s drop in Premier League form with defeats against Leicester and Chelsea and unable to beat Celtic home or away in the group stages, Pep Guardiola will be rubbing his hands together with glee thanks to the fortunate draw by Ruud Gullit in Nyon. Monaco knocked Arsenal out at this stage last season and relegated Spurs to the Europa League, but City’s squad is too good and has strength in depth.
City have made defensive mistakes recently but they have the cash and a transfer window to bolster their back line. The next round is not till February and gives Pep more time to install his style on the squad and also gives £47.5 million defensive signing John Stones time to get his confidence back.
This season Guardiola’s sky blues finally beat Barcelona at the sixth attempt. They may have conceded possession but counter attacked and won 3-1, whereas in the Premier League they have all the possession and play too high up field and sometimes get caught out at the back. It takes a while to get used to the play in England, therefore with Pep’s experience it may be easier for his side to compete in Europe this season. He has coached on this stage and won twice with Barcelona.
The road to Cardiff promises some great contests to come. It is difficult but not impossible for an English side to bring the trophy home. All the main leagues in Europe are well represented. La Liga has Barca, Atletico and Real Madrid plus Sevilla. The Bundesliga is represented by Bayern Munich, Leverkusen and Dortmund. From Serie A Juventus and Napoli are in the mix and Ligue 1 has PSG and Monaco along with perennial Portuguese challengers Porto and Benfica.
By beating Barcelona Manchester City have proved they can beat the best on their day. They got to the semi-finals last year but froze away against Real Madrid. One thing they won’t do under Pep is freeze, his big match experience and cunning is what the club hired him for and I’m sure he’ll deliver the trophy. The real question is when? Is his first year too soon? Whatever happens it is going to fun finding out.
Here is a list of Champions League winners for each top country starting with La Liga winners:
1956 Real Madrid 4-3 Reims, 1957 Real Madrid 2-0 Fiorentina,1958 Real Madrid 3-2 Milan aet,
1959 Real Madrid 2-0 Reims, 1960 Real Madrid 7-3 Eintracht Frankfurt,
1966 Real Madrid 2-1 Partizan Belgrade, 1992 Barcelona 1-0 Sampdoria,
1998 Real Madrid 1-0 Juventus, 2000 Real Madrid 3-0 Valencia, 2002 Real Madrid 2-1 Leverkusen,
2006 Barcelona 2-1 Arsenal, 2009 Barcelona 2-0 Man United, 2011 Barcelona 3-1 Man United,
2014 Real Madrid 4-1 Atletico Madrid aet, 2015 Barcelona 3-1 Juventus,
2016 Real Madrid 1-1 (5-3) Atletico Madrid (pens’)
English winners:
1968 Man United 4-1 Benfica aet, 1977 Liverpool 3-1 Moenchengladbach,
1978 Liverpool 1-0 Brugges, 1979 Notts Forest 1-0 Malmo, 1980 Notts Forest 1-0 Hamburg,
1981 Liverpool 1-0 Real Madrid, 1982 Aston Villa 1-0 Bayern Munich,
1984 Liverpool 1-1 (4-2) Roma (pens’), 1999 Man United 2-1 Bayern Munich,
2005 Liverpool 3-3 (3-2) Milan (pens’, 2008 Man United 1-1 (6-5) Chelsea (pens’)
2012 Chelsea 1-1 (4-3) Bayern Munich
Italian winners:
1963 Milan 2-1 Benfica, 1964 Inter 3-1 Real Madrid, 1965 Inter 1-0 Benfica, 1969 Milan 4-1 Ajax,
1985 Juventus 1-0 Liverpool, 1989 Milan 4-0 Steaua, 1990 Milan 1-0 Benfica,
1994 Milan 4-0 Barcelona, 1996 Juventus 1-1 (4-2) Ajax (pens’),
2003 Milan 0-0 (3-2) Juventus (pens’), 2007 Milan 2-1 Liverpool, 2010 Inter 2-0 Bayern Munich
German winners:
1974 Bayern Munich 4-0 Atletico Madrid (replay), 1975 Bayern Munich 2-0 Leeds United,
1976 Bayern Munich 1-0 St Etienne, 1983 Hamburg 1-0 Juventus,
1997 Borussia Dortmind 3-1 Juventus, , 2001 Bayern Munich 1-1 (5-4) Valencia (pens’)
2013 Bayern Munich 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
Dutch winners:
1970 Feyenoord 2-1 Celtic aet, 1971 Ajax 2-0 Panathinaikos, 1972 Ajax 2-0 Inter,
1973 Ajax 1-0 Juventus, 1988 PSV 0-0 (6-5) Benfica (pen’s), 1995 Ajax 1-0 Milan
Source: DSG
