two European Performance Spots<\/a> for this season, has not fared well so far.<\/p>\nOnly Barcelona are sure of the being in the last 16, with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in the playoff round. Athletic Club and Villarreal have been eliminated.<\/p>\n
Whereas Spanish clubs used to dominate in Europe – Real Madrid won the competition twice in the past four seasons – this time they lost all but one of 10 meetings against Premier League teams in the group stage. La Liga clubs failed to score in seven matches and were beaten by an aggregate score of 21-5.<\/p>\n
BBC Sport columnist Guillem Balague describes it as “a near-perfect storm” which has been driven by “collective wealth, elite decision-making off the pitch, plus a league environment that forces constant tactical evolution”. <\/p>\n
Six Premier League sides sit inside the top 10 of the Deloitte Football Money League, while 50% of the top 30 come from the English top flight.<\/p>\n
Balague added: “The Premier League has the biggest budgets, but also professional structures – recruitment departments, data analysis, coaching teams and sporting directors – all working at a level that allows clubs to choose better profiles of players and managers. <\/p>\n
“There is an advantage even before a ball is kicked.”<\/p>\n
Balague believes only Paris St-Germain and Bayern Munich can match English clubs in all the four areas of “organised attack, structured defence, attacking transition and defensive transition”.<\/p>\n
English clubs are now fully attuned to the European style, Balague says. <\/p>\n
“Rather than imposing something radically different, they are adapting to what Europe now requires,” he said. <\/p>\n
“Defensive composure, winning the duels, squeezing space and time, control of transitions and clarity in decisive moments have become more important than dominating by possession. All prepared in training by top managers and coaches.”<\/p>\n
Balague pointed out that success in the league phase does not mean anything. The competition only really begins in the knockout rounds “where English domination has been far less pronounced”.<\/p>\n
But Balague added: “In any case it feels almost impossible to stop forever the domination of a league that brings every year double or more the income of other competitions.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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