What's up with English football?

Don't worry - this is not a post complaining about how I should have stayed up last night, but instead, I went to bed too early. No, it is not. It probably would have been fun to stay up in order to watch Chelsea win against Eintracht Frankfurt, but I do not have any sorrow in my heart because I didn't. It is important to get enough sleep, so I am rather happy that I was able to wake up this morning with a smile on my face and happy to have slept around 8 hours!

I have no trouble staying up late in the evening, but the problem comes when you have to wake up early in the morning, no matter when you go to bed. So, I could sit up and play games or write articles all night, but if I stay up for too long, I will suffer in the morning. But, enough about my sleep habits and need for sleep! Let us return to football, and once again, English football.

Haha, the Europe League final will be a London derby between Chelsea and Arsenal.

Is English football the best?

Throughout the last years, I have noticed that the Premier League might be the football league that gets the most attention, but the best teams in Europe have been located in Germany, Spain, and Italy. But, what has happened this year and the latter years? Liverpool has been getting better and better, and this year we are going to watch a Europe League final between Chelsea and Arsenal on May 29th, and two days later, we have a Champions League final coming up between Liverpool and Tottenham. Isn't that just awesome? Maybe you will be sad about this if you cheer for Spanish teams, Italian teams, German teams, or maybe for the Dutch team Ajax, but I believe lots of people are happy about this as well!

It is almost funny to consider how Arsenal and Chelsea, both teams from London, have to travel to Baku in Azerbaijan to play a match against one another, that could have been played in their backyard instead. In that way, the players wouldn't have to travel that much, and all the fans from English would save millions of dollars on travel expenses, hotels and more. But, nobody knew that the Europe League final would turn into a London derby as the venue was picked.

It is a bit easier for Liverpool and Tottenham, as they only have to travel to Madrid. That is an easy direct flight, not only for the teams but also for the fans. And Madrid might be a more tourist-friendly city as well, and once the match is over, the fans can jump on the train and go to Barcelona to enjoy some days on the beach.

But, back to the first question - is English football the best in the world?

I have to give an answer, and my answer is that I don't think so. I believe that clubs in Europe are just as good as the English teams. But, this year has proven that hard work, luck, and even more luck will get the job done. However, the first factor, the hard work, should not be underestimated. We have clearly seen how the English teams never give up, but they have been able to come back against hard opponents, even when the results were clearly against them. That could be seen especially clearly with Liverpool against Barcelona and Tottenham against Ajax.

But, Barcelona and Juventus, and also Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund are just as good teams as Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, and also Liverpool, and I guess if they would play 10 matches against one another, you would see a fair amount of victories for all teams. However, there is something about fighting for your life and with a deep desire to win, and I believe the English teams have proven the importance of that during the knockout stage of both the Europe League and the Champions League this year.

The only team missing is Manchester City

If the best teams were to be present in the finals of Champions League and Europe League, I have got to say that Manchester City is missing. They have been solid this year, and they have been scoring a lot of goals. Few teams in Europe have impressed me as much as Manchester City has, and thus I will kind of miss them. I believe the "ideal" Champions League final would have been between Liverpool and Mancheter City, but Liverpool vs Tottenham isn't a bad one either.

Well, now we just have to lean back and prepare for the last matches in the Premier League. Will Manchester City mess it up in their last match against Brighton? I doubt it! But, we have seen the last week that miracles can happen, so I wouldn't say anything for sure!