If Italy's coefficient is higher than the EP"'s heading into next year, will the EPL still retain their 4th spot?
I thought the coefficient was based on the last five seasons, not four, which would put England ahead regardless of the result of the finals? https://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/crank2017.html
Ah got it. I thought Boca was implying that the coefficient that would be used for 2017 could see Italy ahead, which it can't regardless of the finals' results. Italy has only once had a higher season coefficent (19.000 versus 13.571 in 14/15) than England in the last decade, so it's very likely that England's coefficient for 2018 will end up higher than Italy's.
Spain's top 3 are just too strong now. That may change (these things go in cycles) but right now its probably tougher to win La Liga than to win the Champions League. Just ask either of the 2 biggest clubs in Madrid.
Over the last four years, yes Spain have three great teams. To state the obvious, Real have won it three times, Barca once while Atelti and Juve have contested half of these finals. Bayern have only been to semifinals. Beyond this group, there have been no other relevant teams. With that said, in this last four year CL cycle it's Real and everyone else. League titles are crucially important, but the biggest award is the CL. To win three in four years is absolutely insane. Zidane's Madrid has surpassed Pep's Barca in the most important competition. Modric, Kroos, Isco, and Casemiro are the equivalent of Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets in their prime. For Juve, they went up against arguably the greatest Real side in history. This was the best version of Real compared to the last two CLs. This is after playing against a treble winning Barca in 2015. In that sense, this Juve were a bit unlucky given how strong their opposition in finals have been.
What you say about Real Madrid is very true, but I think we are definitely second best team. We did dominate Barcelona. Atletico Madrid aren't even that good anymore to be honest. I was not impressed with them this season. Last season and the season before they impressed me more, but they don't seem to be that good anymore. Bayern Munich will be a threat next season, and not to mention their game vs Real Madrid was controversial. Ancelotti is a manager with pretty much very similar tactics to Zidane in fact he taught Zidane. However to tell you the truth, I honestly think we could have beaten Real Madrid yesterday if Allegri fielded a few different players, like a 4-3-1-2 formation. -Mandzukic-Higuain- -Dybala- -Pjanic-Marchisio-Khedira- -Sandro-Chiellini-Bonucci-Alves- -Buffon- If we fielded that formation, I think we would have been able to pressure Casemeiro a lot more and use both Pjanic and Khedira to get in more dangerous positions. The midfield is what really killed us in the second half. Also this would have closed more space that Modric and Kroos were allowed. I remembered the time when we beat Real 2 seasons ago with this formation and we did so well in the first leg. Not to mention Modric was injured, and that Real was not as good as this Real we played now, but you can pretty much say the same thing about our team. Pogba didn't play first leg in Turin, and with Sturaro we were still able to outplay them in the midfield. Also the way to attack Real Madrid is through the center. With wingers we wouldn't do too well because Carvajal and Marcelo are pretty good players. I think we could have done a lot more danger if we didn't use wingers and played through the midfield and center more.
Pep had 2 CL's and now Zidane has 2 while Pep actually dominated domestically. Madrid has a long way to go if they want to catch that Barca atm id say the top 3 teams of this gen are: 1. Pep's Barca 2. Heyncke's Bayern 3. Zidane's Madrid Honorable Mentions: Allegri's Juve Luis Enrique's Barca Mourinho's Inter Klopp's Dortmund
Made a bet with @juventino13 in the beginning of last season that we would win the CL. Obviously Bayern KO'd us but i forgot to fulfill it. Before the final vs Madrid I was going through my old posts and saw the bet so in order to not to jinx the result I changed it. Obviously it didnt work tho
If the previous 3 seasons had played-out like this season, I would agree. But Madrid were not at a different level than Barca and Atleti the previous 3 seasons. The head-to-head matches between these 3 teams were 50/50, just so happened that Madrid won 2 out of 3.
2013-14 Real Madrid were by far the best team. 2014-15 Barcelona was the best followed by Juventus, with Real Madrid just a tiny step below Juventus. Although they were without Modric in the 2 legs. 2015-16 Real Madrid were probably on the same level as Atletico and Bayern with Juventus probably even a step above. Although Juve went out due to that horrible mistake by Evra which happens 1/75 times. 2016-17 Real Madrid were clearly superior to any team. They won La Liga and UCL. Here are the ranks: 2013-14: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Barcelona, Dortmund 2014-15: Barcelona, Juventus, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, PSG 2015-16: Juventus, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man City, PSG 2016-17: Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Monaco
Lol what? Madrid stumbled throughout that season and got somewhat hot at the right time to win CL (which goes to my point that it has been easier to win CL than La Liga). But even in CL it took a 93rd minute goal. Up until then, Atletico were the best team in Europe. What happened to Barca? You know that they wrecked Madrid 0-4 in the Bernabeu en route to winning La Liga(?). Both Barca and Juve suffered from having a bad month that season (in Barca’s case it led to their elimination in CL; in Juve’s case it led to them finishing 2nd in their group and having to play Bayern). But Barca were rampant apart from that one bad month.
You call a team that beat Bayern 5-0 on aggregate a team that stumbled through the season? Bayern were the former champions don't forget, and Real beat them 4-0 in their own backyard. They smashed Schalke 9-2 on aggregate, and they did pretty well against Dortmund. You kidding me seriously? They played really well that season. In the final it took a goal in the 93rd min, but you need to watch that game again. Atletico was the team that was kind of lucky. Real were having all the chances, and that goal they conceded was a huge mistake by Casillas. Real deserved that game. I hate Real Madrid, and I myself am telling you that they deserved to win that game and were by far the better side. They wrecked Real 4-0 when Benitez was still in charge. Benitez is a horrible manager who can be quite negative sometimes. Its because of his horrible skills and he was destroying Real which is why they got smashed 4-0 by Barca. Juventus were not necessarily having a bad month. The problem was they were hit with a number of injuries during key games and were going through a huge transition especially with Pirlo, Vidal, and Tevez all leaving and them having to be replaced, with Marchisio out until early november. Sandro was still getting introduced and wasn't at his best yet. But by the second half of the season Juve looked like the best team in the world. The way they came back in Turin was sensational and how they dominated Bayern at Allianz Arena for 80 min was unbelievable, and keep in mind no team in UCL has ever beaten Bayern at home in a while before that in fact nobody was ever able to get a draw vs Bayern at home in the UCL. Barcelona just wasn't as good in 15-16. Their midfield was aging, and their defense was never even that amazing. They had loads of problems especially with high pressing/defensive teams. Real beat them 2-1 at the Camp Nou (should have been 3-1 but Bale had a goal wrongly disallowed).
When it has come to advancing in the CL and overcoming all sorts of sides to win this competition, winning 3 out of 4 is a sign of dominance. Yes a historic single season Barca won in 2015, but over this period they have also been eliminated in 3 quarterfinals. In thinking about Barca's glaring deficiencies (declining midfield, lack of WC outside backs, questionable defense), it's possible that these early eliminations could easily continue. In this historic four year CL run, the only team to have eliminated Real was the squad Real just dominated in the 2nd half of this last final. In head-to-head matches, especially el Classico, Barca can play on par with Real. No one is saying otherwise. However, winning a league match vs a major rival isn't the equivalent of winning the Champions League. This is all coming from a heartbroken Juve fan.
Right, but we were talking about the best teams in Europe over the past few years, not best teams in CL. Disagree. If it were true that Madrid have been far and away the best team in Europe the past few years then surely they would've won more than one Spanish title.
??? 3 points behind Juve? How? Real aren't even in the same league as Juve. Unless you are talking about his time at Napoli? Napoli were not even close to Juventus in 14-15 season.
You are right to point out that Real should have won more league titles. Interestingly enough, In this four year run where Real has won an insane three CLs in four years, they have done so while also winning the same number of league points as Barca over this stretch. Each have won a combined total of 449 points. I'm not sure who else merits a mention. -Real has won three CLs and one league title -Barca has won one CL and two league titles. -Juve have lost two CL finals and won 4 league titles. -Bayern have made it to the CL semis three times and won 4 league titles. -Atleti have lost two CL finals and won the league once This year's Real beat Napoli, Bayern, Atleti, and Juve by a combined score of 20-8, won the league, and won back to back CLs. It pains me to say this but credit where credit is due.