Football journalist and author Guillem Balagué gives his thoughts on the UEFA Champions League and how the Spanish teams could thrive against English opposition.
There was a time when the great European football debate revolved around a single question: Which league is better, La Liga or the Premier League?
It was a lot of fun being outnumbered and defending the LaLiga corner. I'm not sure the conversation brings the same kind of passion because the numbers have moved on drastically.
The stats reveal that since the beginning of the Premier League, in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League, Spain rules.
Since 1992-93, Spain has won 13 UEFA Champions League/European Cups and 12 UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cups, while England in the same time has won seven and five.
But put history to one side and reach for the microscope. Look only at this season, at the financial muscle, the squad depth, the competitive intensity week after week, and the argument changes. The Premier League’s economic power has changed the landscape.
The picture is not particularly encouraging for Spanish football this season: of the 10 matches against Premier League teams in the group stage, only Barcelona managed to win (2-1 against Newcastle). Later on, Hansi Flick's team lost to Chelsea in London.
Real Madrid fell to Manchester City and Liverpool, Atlético Madrid to Liverpool and Arsenal, Athletic Club to Arsenal and Newcastle, and Villarreal to Tottenham and City.
Furthermore, the Premier League finished the league phase with five of its six representatives in the top eight. Newcastle missed out initially but secured qualification in the play-off against Qarabag.
On top of that, La Liga could only boast one team among the top eight in the group stage: Barça.
Not much argument, is it? Or is it?
I think out of the three LaLiga-Premier League encounters in the next round of the UEFA Champions League, I back two La Liga teams to go through.
Spanish sides have got a know-how in knockout competitions that takes them a bit further and in Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe, two players that can win a game on their own. Can Newcastle, Spurs, even Arsenal or Liverpool, say the same?
But when you look at the bigger picture, the old La Liga vs Premier League debate has been replaced by a new one: Which league is second best? The European Superleague exists and you find it in England.
Italy currently sits second in the UEFA coefficient, but Spain's strong representation in European competitions suggests they may soon reclaim that spot.
It was not just Barcelona and Real Madrid having success in Europe, but they got the biggest trophies thanks to their financial muscle and Barcelona’s golden generation.
Barcelona's golden generation and both clubs' financial muscle (with a very unequal distribution of wealth in Spain) allowed them to rule Europe.
When Barcelona and Real Madrid were permitted to negotiate their own television and media deals alongside Atletico Madrid, dragged in as a minor partner so as to try to create – unsuccessfully – the impression of an even playing field, the rest of La Liga's clubs were forced to accept whatever crumbs the media companies were prepared to put on the table once the lion's share had been paid out to the bigger boys.
After legislation dragged both clubs kicking and screaming into a slightly fairer world, matters have improved slightly. But it was never money what would take the rest of La Liga to have good European campaigns. If you don’t have it, be clever, maximise what you have, and learn to compete with what you have been given.
The Premier League took a different path. Its more even distribution of revenue has created a competitive, financially powerful ecosystem. That has made everyone stronger and at some point that was going to show. Like now. And that huge difference between both leagues will continue for years to come with one warning. Is the Premier League creating a bubble that could burst, as in the last seven years they are more than doubling the expenditure compared to the income?
In any case, the Premier League has become a global reference point in all matters as varied as commercial management, matchday experience, anti-discrimination initiatives, global marketing and talent acquisition.
Meanwhile La Liga can only look on with envy as Premier League clubs attract the best players and coaches from around the world - including Spain.
At this time, three of the top four clubs in the Premier League are coached by Spaniards, and 14 of the 20 managers come from outside the UK. When knowledge and talent cluster in the same place, standards rise collectively, just as they did during the Industrial Revolution in the UK, when proximity accelerated innovation.
Leading managerial luminaries like Luis Enrique, Hansi Flick and Julian Nagelsmann are not averse to proclaiming - in perfect English - their undying admiration for the Premier League.
Barcelona and Real Madrid remain global magnets. Their ability to attract stars like Mbappé, Rashford, and previously Gareth Bale says a lot about the stature of the clubs.
La Liga's main challenge now is to secure a larger share of international broadcasting revenue. But even during the Messi-Ronaldo era, when La Liga boasted the two greatest players of their generation, the Premier League remained the most watched and most profitable league abroad.
The trend is clear. But I just want one more day in the sun. So two Spanish teams will go through. And one fixture will tell us, without the cushion of a league where points can be dropped to no drama, how good both leagues are when the pressure in on.
Pep Guardiola will return to the Bernabéu for the fifth consecutive year. In the 2021-22 season, Real Madrid staged an epic comeback in the semi-finals to reach the Wembley final, where they lifted their last Champions League trophy against Borussia Dortmund.
A year later, the tables turned, again in the semi-finals. In 2023-24, it was Real Madrid who triumphed after a nail-biting penalty shootout in Manchester, this time in the quarter-finals. Last season, Mbappé decimated Guardiola's side with a hat-trick at the Bernabéu, sending Real Madrid through to the quarter-finals. And this season, it was the English side who prevailed in the group stage (1-2), with Xabi Alonso still managing the home team.
Both teams are second in their domestic table so far.
Let’s see who takes the bragging rights.
