By Andrew Warshaw
March 14 – Arsene Wenger has described the decline of English clubs in the Champions League as a “massive wake-up call” after his Arsenal team became the last of the country’s four representatives to be eliminated from European club football’s elite competition.
When the draw is held on Friday for the quarterfinals, England will have no interest for the first time since 1995-96, a setback to the Premier League’s image and, realistically, a frustration both for UEFA as well as the English Football Association with the final due to be staged at Wembley to mark the FA’s 150th anniversary.
Although the absence of English clubs won’t have an immediate effect on their four Champions League places, it nevertheless throws up questions about how strong a product, from a technical standpoint, the globally followed Premier League really is.
“It’s a massive disappointment for English football,” said Wenger. “We accept the rest of European football has caught us.”
Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City finished bottom of their group, which featured Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax, after failing to win any of their six matches. Defending champions Chelsea also failed to get past the group stage while Manchester United went out to Real Madrid.
Arsenal missed out only by virtue after the away goals rule after a spirited performance in Munich on Wednesday but this simply papered over the cracks. “We had Manchester City and United, Chelsea and Arsenal all out by the quarter-final,” said Wenger. “It’s a long time since that happened. We have to take that into consideration in the way we think about the future of the Premier League.”
Between 2004 and 2009, England’s “big four” – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United – accounted for 13 of the 24 semi-final berths. Since then, there have only been two semifinal appearances.
However, Bayern boss Jupp Heynckes says the current lapse is only a blip and that Premier League clubs will be back in the later stages of the competition again next season. “We have had German teams knocked out early in previous years,” he said. “I think Manchester United were unlucky to get knocked out and Arsenal showed what a quality team they are. You get cycles like that in football. I think the English teams will be back next year.”
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