Champions League lessons, from Premier League to PSG minus
A knockout competition can produce delightfully confusing results. Kentucky can lose to Saint Peter's and Oakland. The New York Giants can beat the New England Patriots (twice). Morocco can beat Spain and Portugal back-to-back, while the Premier League -- by far the richest league in soccer -- can flame out of UEFA competitions.
The quarterfinal round of Champions League and Europa League matches erased loads of English hopes and storylines. Manchester City's prospects of a "Double Treble" disappeared with Antonio Rüdiger's deciding spot kick and a second knockout loss to Real Madrid in three years. Liverpool's hopes of sending Jurgen Klopp into retirement with their own unique treble -- League Cup, Europa League, Premier League -- came to an end when a comeback attempt at Atalanta quickly fizzled.
Arsenal's ongoing rebirth continues overall, but hopes of a first Champions League semifinal in 15 years fell apart in the same place a lot of its 21st century Champions League hopes have died: Munich. With West Ham also falling to Bayer Leverkusen, only Aston Villa's comeback win over Lille in the Europa Conference League, aided by a funky goal late in regulation, kept England in any competition.
Meanwhile, Barcelona lost both their lead and composure against PSG, Germany's two biggest clubs are in the Champions League semifinals for the first time in 11 years, and Bayer Leverkusen, which took eight points in four matches from those two heavyweights this season, remain incapable of losing in the Europa League.
Despite the randomness of these competitions, we always rush to the narrative machine immediately in the aftermath of interesting results. The Premier League is drastically overrated! The Bundesliga is underrated! PSG's plan was on course all along! With a few days to reflect on what we saw, let's talk about what we did, and didn't, actually learn from these incredible quarterfinal rounds.
Money matters, but so does everything else
It should probably go without saying, but just in case: Despite quarterfinal flameouts, the Premier League is still comfortably the best league in Europe (and, therefore, the world). It has the most money, the most depth, the most roster value, et cetera. Before this season, it had provided seven finalists in the last six Champions Leagues. And according to UEFA's most recent benchmarking report, 20 Premier League clubs rake in about as much combined revenue as all 38 clubs in LaLiga and the Bundesliga and all 642 clubs in Europe's bottom 50 countries.more