with liverpool, chelsea and united all through to the quarter finals of the champions league - has there been a shift in dominance of leagues? In much of the previous 50 years of the competition the power has been centred in Spain and Italy, with German and Dutch teams also taking glory. English teams seem to have had sporadic periods of dominance with Liverpool clearly the leaders, Forest and United claiming second spot. With Roman pouring billions into chelsea and new american owners at pool and united, could that all be about to change - are the next 10 years going to have English team names on the trophy 5+ times? Or is this just a blip that won't even amount to a serious challenge for the title by any english team. If the next 10 years is going to see an England dominant champions league is that going to be due to the quality of english football, or the amount of money invested in our teams? After all the England national team has hardly been setting the world alight over the last couple of years - we don't even look certain to qualify for Euro 08. So is it a case of us having the likes of Ronaldo and Drogba which make the difference, or do Terry and Lampard, Gerrard and Carragher, Rio and Rooney really cut the mustard when it comes to European football? Or is it a great combination of both that only great managers like SAF, JM and RB can create? Personally I think it's down to the managers - Rafa is great in Europe and that's where he concentrates, Jose is a great manager who was given a blank check and Sir Alex has finally come into some form again after a few years in the wilderness wondering where it all went wrong. But will it last? I'm not sure - Rafa or Jose off to Madrid/Barca? Sir Alex to retire or lose his form again? For me it all looks like it could change very quickly.
English ATM is clearly the dominant league. The only teams i thought were going to win the CL was Barca and Inter so this year an England one will and hoepfully the majority of the next ten years.
The only reason Italy doesn't have three teams in the quarter finals is because Juve got thrown into Serie B.
