The European football season has reached its end with Real Madrid beating Borussia Dortmund at Wembley to win the Champions League under Carlo Ancelotti. While the Premier League winners odds successfully tipped Manchester City to win the Premier League, they were unable to retain their European crown after completing the treble in 2022-23.
Arsenal were eliminated from the competition in the quarter-finals by Bayern Munich, with an inexperienced squad succumbing to the brilliance of the Bavarians. Elsewhere, Liverpool’s Europa League exploits were cut short when they were convincingly beaten over two legs by Serie A side Atalanta, who would go on to win the competition against Bayer Leverkusen in Ireland.
West Ham United also fell short in the Europa League, while Aston Villa lost to Olympiacos in the semi-final of the UEFA Europa Conference League.
It begs the question of why the Premier League has struggled so much in Europe compared to recent years.
The lack of English representation is not yet at a stage where it is cause for concern, but in this article, we assess the factors that may have contributed to the Premier League underperforming.
Injuries
A key reason why Premier League sides have struggled is the injuries to key players in games that matter the most.
Fixture congestion has always been a cause for concern, but there are also issues with squad depth. While Premier League teams sign big-name players for lots of money, there needs to be a pathway for academy players or those on the fringe of the first team to come in and do a job when required.
City were without Kevin De Bruyne for large parts of the season and Villa missed crucial players throughout their Conference League campaign. One of which was Emi Martinez, who not only provides valuable experience in tournament football, but has demonstrated he can win trophies having lifted the World Cup with Argentina in 2022.
Fixture pile up
Towards the back end of the season, it looked as if the league’s top three were all heading for a title race, with City, Arsenal and Liverpool sharing similar points beyond the March international break.
Liverpool’s Europa League campaign provided a challenging balancing act for Klopp, who was increasingly frustrated with the number of lunchtime kick-offs his side were given, and when fixtures piled it up it meant his side lost momentum, settling for third place in the German’s last season.
Klopp described his views as “a little advice from an old man on the way out”, and said Liverpool being asked to play “Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday 12.30 is a crime”.
Too many competitions?
The FA are trying to prevent a fixture overload but it has not been without controversy. Plans to scrap replays in the third round of the FA Cup provide the European sides with some much-needed rest but when you factor in that these sides often reach the latter rounds of the League Cup too, you question if it has any influence.
Teams simply can’t win the League Cup, FA Cup, Premier League, and a European trophy in one season.
When City won the treble in the 2022-23 season they played 59 games. Liverpool’s pursuit of the quadruple meant they played 69 games, the most possible in a season.
It has proven to be too much being able to compete domestically and in Europe. It will be interesting to see if the reformatting of the Champions League has any influence on the success of Premier League teams this time next year.
and then