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Like the glory days of the 1970s and early 1980s, when teams such as Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa won the European Cup in several successive years, English teams are once again dominating in Europe...

It's official: English clubs rule in Europe again

1/05/2008
The Mirror

European Cup Final: Chelsea VS Manchester Utd (Moscow, Wednesday 21st May)

The confirmation came last night on a muddy pitch in west London: the great days are back.

The days when English clubs dominated Europe.

When Liverpool or Nottingham Forest seemed to win the European Cup every year.

And if they didn't Aston Villa won it instead.

Now we know Chelsea and Manchester United will contest the Champions League final in Moscow this month, outdoing anything English clubs achieved in those halcyon days.

And even as Chelsea's victorious players cavorted in the rain at Stamford Bridge at the final whistle, a great sense of pride spread through English football.

Because the rest of Europe can't get a look-in.

Last night was a classic of its type. The rain and the mud meant it was never going to be a feast of technical excellence but the nobility of two teams who fought each other to a standstill was spectacle enough.

ENGLISH EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS

1968 - Manchester United
1977 - Liverpool
1978 - Liverpool
1979 - Nottingham Forest
1980 - Nottingham Forest
1981 - Liverpool
1982 - Aston Villa
1984 - Liverpool
1985 to 1990 - All English teams banned from European competitions
1999 - Manchester United
2005 - Liverpool
2008 - Manchester United or Chelsea

And how about the drama, the emotion and the passion.

How about the impossible tension of the grieving Frank Lampard stepping up to take such a vital penalty-kick? It was watch-through-yourfingers time.

When Paul Scholes walked alone across the pitch at the end of United's victory over

Barcelona on Tuesday, it was because he hates the spotlight.

When Lampard turned his back on Chelsea's joyous celebrations, it was because celebrating anything is still far from his mind.

His triumph last night was a collision of personal and professional courage. It was the type of raw theatre sport sometimes produces, the type that shreds the nerves.

We don't need to apologise for the drama inherent in English football, though.

Particularly not this morning.

Not after last night and the night before.

Because English clubs have dominated Europe for plenty of reasons apart from power and passion this season.

They have dominated Europe because they are technically superior to their rivals, too. Let's not forget there was another brilliant strike from Fernando Torres, who pushed his claim to be the world's leading striker.

And some scintillating interplay between Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba to create Chelsea's winner.

There are some, of course, who are throwing up their hands in horror as they contemplate the reality of an all-English final.

For them, it is as if the Hun has battered on the doors of football civilisation and smashed them down.

Former Real Madrid sporting director Jorge Valdano famously said one of Liverpool's semi-final clashes with Chelsea last season was like watching "s**t on a stick".

But then AC Milan and Juventus hardly provided a feast of football when they bored each other to a dour 0- 0 draw in the 2003 final at Old Trafford.

The earlier dominance of the Spanish sides was more pleasing to the eye, especially when the Real Madrid side of Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Steve McManaman demolished Valencia in 2000.

But this vintage of English football can compete with that. The Premier League has most of the best players in the world and a Chelsea- Manchester United final is the proof of that.

Valdano's view, and that of Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard, is English football relies too much on sound and fury and not enough on finesse.

But that's an outmoded view.

In Cristiano Ronaldo, United have the best player in the world and the most prolific goalscorer.

Ronaldo is not an oldfashioned powerhouse. He's a technically gifted, incredibly versatile young genius.

He might not quite be able to dribble like George Best or Lionel Messi but he's not far behind. And he can do plenty they can't. He's brilliant in dead-ball situations and he can head a ball like Nat Lofthouse.

The idea he's a flat-track bully is a joke. Roma didn't think that when he thumped a majestic header past them in the Stadio Olimpico in the quarter-finals.

United have technically brilliant players right through the team. Rio Ferdinand is probably the world's most cultured centre half. Try and think of one better. You can't.

Whenever there was a challenge from a European pretender, English clubs have dismissed them with ease this season.

Liverpool swept Inter Milan aside. Arsenal and Cesc Fabregas provided a tour de force in the San Siro to vanquish AC Milan. As for

Barcelona, they are a neat passing side with wonderful flair players but against United on Tuesday night they just looked like a pedestrian version of the Gunners.

Sure, they've got Messi. And Milan have got Kaka.

But England's elite clubs boast the other three of the top five players in the world.

And most of the top ten, too.

Teams like United, Chelsea and Liverpool are strong and getting stronger while mainland Europe's old dynasties appear to be sinking into decline.

Milan, Inter, Juventus, Real Madrid and Barcelona all face uncertain times ahead.

While they labour, United, Chelsea and the rest are poised to lead English football into another golden age of European domination..

mirror.co.uk