Premier League sides have won two of the last three Champions League finals but Pep Guardiola has spoken about the need to continue that trend before they can be claim dominance
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Guardiola: ‘Many things can happen’ in Premier League race
Pep Guardiola insists Premier League teams have a long way to go before they can claim dominance in the Champions League.
The European Cup final has been an all-English affair in two of the past three years.
Chelsea saw off Manchester City back in May whilst Liverpool beat Tottenham in Madrid back in 2019.
The four English sides in this year’s competition have all qualified for the last 16 with a game to spare, bolstering the chance of a repeat.
However Guardiola, whose City side came up short last season, believes the current trend is nowhere near the Spanish dominance seen for much of the competition’s recent history.
In the decade of finals between 2009 and 2018 LaLiga provided seven winners – Barcelona lifting the trophy three times whilst Real Madrid claimed four victories.
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Atletico Madrid also reached two finals, losing to their city rivals in 2014 and 2016.
Guardiola was keen to point that out whilst praising the efforts of the Premier League outfits.
“Spain was one decade, here was two or three years so we have to wait to compare what Barcelona, Madrid, Atletico, Valencia has done in these years,” he said.
“It’s a fact that the last years English teams are there in the last stages.
“The group stages are so difficult but look at what Liverpool, United and Chelsea have done – all four are qualified and this is a big success for the Premier League. I’m glad for that.”
England does currently rank as the top nation in UEFA’s country co-efficients and boasts three of the top five in the club co-efficients.
Madrid and Barcelona are not the forces of old, but other contenders like Bayern Munich and PSG, who contested the 2020 final, are both front runners in this year’s competition.
Guardiola himself is looking to win the Champions League for the first time since 2011.
The Catalan led his beloved Barcelona to two wins in three years, both against Manchester United. His most recent success at Wembley is hailed as one of the best final performances in history.
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Since then though he has fallen short with Bayern, whom he led to three successive semi-finals between 2014 and 2016.
With City he has been beaten by the likes of Monaco, Liverpool, Tottenham and Lyon – some defeats coming amid VAR interference and surprising line-up calls.
Guardiola’s team have won four of their five matches this term ahead of their final group game with RB Leipzig.
City are currently favourites to lift the trophy in St Petersburg come May.
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