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England’s glossy league plays no role in Europe. Fifth place in the Champions League probably goes to the Bundesliga.
Mats Hummels was in a great mood after the “nightmare week” for the Premier League. “Dear farmers, that was a pretty good harvest,” wrote the Borussia Dortmund defender on Friday Xgarnished with a Germany flag.
The message was clear: The Bundesliga, which is often derided in England as the “Farmers League,” has made a lot of money in Europe – in complete contrast to the glossy product from the island.
Only Aston Villa is still flying the English flag in the European Cup – and only in the third-tier Conference League and thanks to luck in the penalty shootout.
Premier League like Belgium and Greece
Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Newcastle and Co.? Everybody out. “The biggest show in the world is no longer appearing in Europe,” wrote the daily newspaper Independent about collective failure.
England started with eight clubs, one remained – this puts the Premier League on a par with Belgium and Greece. Germany and Italy, on the other hand, still have three clubs in the running, France at least two.
Fifth CL place probably in the Bundesliga
“It was a nightmare week for the Premier League,” he wrote Mirror. This season may be an outlier for England – but one with consequences. Because the fifth Champions League participant for the coming season will probably be denied the richest league in the world.
Italy has already secured the additional place, Germany has almost: If only one of the three representatives Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen reaches the final, that will be enough.
“Real and Co. are not the saviors of football”
“The rest of Europe celebrates our failure,” he wrote Independent, knowing full well about the reputation of the “Monopoly League” in the rest of the continent: “There is talk of the Premier League’s hubris. Super clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris St. Germain aren’t exactly the saviors of football.” But at least this year it was significantly more successful.
And yet everything continues to be subordinated to the big clubs. A storm of indignation has been raging below the Premier League since Thursday because the association abolished the traditional replays in the FA Cup.
FA Cup revolution hits the little ones
The – few – European Cup participants should be relieved, while the smaller clubs, in addition to an additional source of income, also lose hope of possible celebrations in their own stadium.
Money rules the world – even if the harvest fails. In any case, there is great satisfaction outside of England.