Champions League eludes English teams after draining season
Arsenal's Granit Xhaka, left, challenges Bayern Munich's Thiago Alcantara in the Champions League in March © EPAJUNE 3, 2017 by: Murad Ahmed and John Burn-Murdoch
The Uefa Champions League final between Real Madrid and Juventus will be played at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Saturday — close to home for the clubs of the English Premier League.
Yet this season no English side looked likely to appear in the continent’s most prestigious football match. The strongest challenge came from Leicester City, which was knocked out in the quarter finals. The last time an English team reached the final of the tournament was when Chelsea won it in 2012.
But the reason may not be the superiority of European clubs over their English rivals, despite the lamentations of many fans and commentators.
According to a Financial Times analysis, the amount of money in today’s Premier League has increased its competitiveness, to the point that the top clubs have to devote so much energy to the domestic campaign they are too drained to take on Europe’s finest.
Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben, left, celebrates with Arturo Vidal after scoring against Arsenal in March as the London team was thrashed 5-1 © EPA
The main route to Champions League qualification for English teams is to finish in the Premier League’s top four positions — and that has become increasingly difficult.
Five English Premier League sides are among the top 10 richest sides in Europe, according to Deloitte, the consultancy. The other five are Spain’s Real Madrid and Barcelona, Germany’s Bayern Munich, Italy’s Juventus and France’s Paris Saint-Germain.
Each of the latter has qualified for the Champions League with ease because they dominate matches in their domestic leagues far more than their English counterparts.
Since 2012, Barcelona have spent 25.4 per cent of time in domestic league matches leading by two or more goals. This is followed by Bayern on 25.2 per cent, Real Madrid on 25 per cent, PSG on 20.3 per cent and Juventus on 18.9 per cent. The most dominant English team by this standard is Manchester City on 16 per cent.
The statistics suggest these sides are all able to play at a lower intensity in domestic matches for longer periods, because their home leagues are less competitive — they take a comfortable lead and can therefore conserve more energy. As a result, when domestic and European fixtures come thick and fast, they can focus their efforts more on tougher European matches.
The world’s richest club side in terms of revenues, according to Deloitte, is Manchester United. Yet in recent seasons Man Utd has not even been a regular participant in the Champions League, let alone a contender for the trophy.
The ability to dominate domestic games may also be linked to the relative spending power of clubs within their home leagues.
Analysts such as Stefan Szymanski, a sports industry academic at the University of Michigan, say that the best predictor of a team’s league placing is its wages bill. According to data gathered from the financial reports of clubs across Europe, Man Utd has the largest wage bill, ahead of Barcelona, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Chelsea.
However, top English teams do not have a huge pay advantage over their domestic rivals. Man Utd’s wage bill is only 2.3 times higher than the average in the Premier League.
By contrast, PSG’s wage bill is 11.3 times the median team wage in its domestic league; Barcelona’s wage bill is 9.2 times higher, Real Madrid’s is 8.3 times higher and Juventus’s is 5.6 times higher. This is because most European leagues distribute money from television rights deals less evenly than the Premier League.
What is more, the amount of money in the Premier League has meant English teams are becoming less financially dependent on performances in European competitions than their continental rivals.
All Premier League sides benefited this season from a new £5.1bn, three-year domestic broadcasting deal with Sky and BT, an increase of £600m compared with the previous contract. The deal comes along with the estimated £3bn in overseas rights deals to screen Premier League matches.
Yet Cliff Baty, Manchester United’s chief financial officer, said this TV money had not diminished the importance of winning Europe’s top tournament.
“In pure pounds, shillings and pence, yes [the club is now less reliant on Champions League broadcast and prize money ],” he said. “But for a club of our status and stature, we want to be believing that we will compete and challenge for the most premium competitions. The Champions League is very important from that point of view.”
https://www.ft.com/content/9280ffae-46d7-11e7-8519-9f94ee97d996 
Наверное это проще воспринимается и не так бьет по самолюбию, как тот факт, что у лучших английских клубов в последние годы просто не хватает класса исполнителей для того, чтобы всерьез бороться за победу в ЛЧ.