Is playing an additional domestic competition, the reason why English teams fail to win the Champions League?

The Champions League is held in such high esteem because of the simple reason that only the best teams in the world take part in it and the Winner of the Champions League would be considered to be the best team in the world and there is no greater honor.

However, not many English teams have had the luxury of claiming that honour. After the formation of Premier League in 1992, only three teams from England have been able to lift the prestigious Champions League trophy.

98-99     : Manchester United

04-05     : Liverpool

07-08     : Manchester United

11-12     : Chelsea

In this post, we are going to look at the reasons why English teams have not fared well in the Champions League.

Do the Premier League teams not have quality in their squad to rival those of other European heavyweights? I say definitely not. The Premier League has produced some of the best players the world has seen.

The reason why I believe that English teams do not provide a strong competition in the Premier League is because of the pressure of not only winning the league but also to go atleast to the final stages of the FA Cup and League Cup. However, out of these two cups the former is given more importance than the latter. No Premier League club would sweat hard to win the League Cup but still they cannot just ignore it. It would be a shame for any top team in the Premier League to come out of the League Cup in the first round, which is why they do their best to reach at least till the quarters or semis of the League Cup.

In my opinion, this added pressure is just the reason why the Premier League’s top guns are not able to fight their way and win the champions league.

Having a look at some of the stats, only Manchester United that too during the 1998-99 season, were able to win the Champions League and two domestic titles (Premier League & FA Cup). That was the most successful season by any English team.

Liverpool, when they won the Champions League in 2004-05 campaign, the Premier League and League Cup was won by Chelsea and the FA Cup was won by Arsenal. Similarly, when United won Champions League the Premier League in 2007-08 campaign, the FA Cup was won by Portsmouth and League Cup was won by Tottenham. When Chelsea managed to win the Champions League, they finished 10^th in the Premier League which was won by Manchester City but Chelsea won the FA Cup and the League Cup was won by Liverpool.

This shows that no team in the Premier League has won all 3 domestic cups and the UEFA Champions League. Each year, focusing on so many trophies has confined the English Teams to consider winning the Premier League as the ultimate prize and they have kept a safe distance from the Champions League as if fighting for both the titles is impossible. The English teams have the choice of either winning the Champions League or the Premier League and almost always the latter is preferred.

The Inclusion of two additional domestic competition, creates a congested schedule and it is impossible to have a squad that can be fresh and lively for each game with varying difficulty. So, definitely if the League Cup is taken out of the picture, the teams capable of fighting for and winning the Champions League will be able to actually do it as they would focus less on the FA Cup and more on the Champions League.

So, will a reduction in domestic game actually help an English side win the Champions League? I definitely think so.

For some more fun, let’s have a look at the last 10 Champions League winning teams and how they have fared in their league success and all major football leagues in the world have only two domestic cup competitions.

Champions League Winners

2007-08 : Manchester United (UCL, PL)

2008-09 : Barcelona (UCL, La Liga, Copa Del Rey)

2009-10 : Inter (UCL, Serie A, Coppa Italia)

2010-11 : Barcelona (UCL, La Liga)

2011-12 : Chelsea (UCL)

2012-13 : Bayern Munich (UCL, Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal)

2013-14 : Real Madrid (UCL, Coppa Del Rey)

2014-15 : Barcelona (UCL, La Liga, Copa Del Rey)

2015-16 : Real Madrid (UCL)

2016-17 : Real Madrid (UCL, La Liga)

The team that last won the treble was Barcelona in the 2014-15 season and before that was Bayern Munich in their 2012-13 season and before it was Inter during their 2009-10 campaign.

It has to be noted that these treble winning sides won both their domestic championships and the UEFA Champions league but the point to be noted here is that winning the treble does not occur often and no same team has been able to achieve it in a short span of time. Also, they were able to do it for very specific reasons.

1. Barcelona won the treble in 2014-15 season because their attacking trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar who scored a total of 122 goals among them and were on the form of their life. A completely formidable partnership. This is once in a life time combination but even they were able to do it only once.

    2. Bayern were able to win the treble because of a lackluster competition in the Bundesliga. They were able to win their league with a margin of 25 points and this shows that they could have even afforded to lose a couple of matches and still be the league leaders. They had very little or no pressure at all in their domestic games.

   3. Inter Milan however, had a tough domestic season as they won the league by a margin of just 2 points but they were still able to win the treble. To be honest this is one team who won it all with their sheer perseverance and skills and I cannot point out an easy way out for them but this is just once that Inter had been able to do it with such close margin. As a matter of fact, no team had been able to win the UCL while having such tough competition in their domestic championships. So I’m gonna leave it at that. Also, Inter have never been the same after that success both in the domestic and Champions League level.

So, is it possible to win the Champions League with one less competition? I think it is.