ClapAnother season, another strong outing for English clubs across both the Champions League and Europa League.
Unfortunately, the hope of a 2019 repeat by having an all-English final both in the Champions League and Europa League has come up short – although 75% of the clubs involved did manage to keep up their end of the bargain.
It’s been another hectic week within the context of European football and as we all look ahead to the future, it certainly seems as if a whole lot can be learned from what we’ve seen across both competitions.
Today, we’re going to take a deeper dive into how all four English clubs did and analyse what lies ahead for all of them.
Manchester City
Manchester City already did most of the hard work in the first leg against Paris Saint-Germain and in the second, it was all about maintaining their advantage in a cool, calm and composed way.
We think they managed that pretty effectively with another comfortable Champions League win, taking City and Pep Guardiola to within just one win of making history.
Of course, in order to claim the trophy that’s eluded them all these years, they’ll have to take on a team they’re pretty familiar with.
Chelsea
The team in question is Chelsea, and boy oh boy are they looking like a completely different side under Thomas Tuchel.
The resurgence that the Blues have enjoyed has been absolutely insane ever since Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard, and we saw that on full display against Real Madrid.
The first leg was a pretty tight encounter but the second leg was the complete opposite. Chelsea just manhandled Madrid and even though the scoreline didn’t suggest that, those who watched the game will be fully aware of how dangerous this team is. They’ll take on City in the final and, unsurprisingly, will fancy their chances.
Manchester United
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is into his first final as Manchester United boss and even though they made a meal of the second leg, it was the 6-2 annihilation in the first that did the job for them against Roma.
There’s such a natural, free-flowing confidence within their setup that easily makes them favourites to win the whole thing in the final.
They’re loose, they’re composed and they have so many players within their ranks who can completely flip a game on its head on short notice. With all of that taken into consideration, it’s not shocking to hear how confident Red Devils fans are feeling.
Arsenal
After losing 2-1 in the first leg against Villarreal, all Arsenal had to do at the Emirates in the second leg was win 1-0 and go through on away goals.
Sure, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but they should’ve been able to get over the finish line – especially with them competing at home.
Unfortunately, Mikel Arteta just couldn’t inspire them to victory and instead, they were left to wonder where exactly they stand as a club with the summer transfer window being right around the corner.
