Although most are aware of the battle for third between Italy and England, far fewer are aware of an even possibly more important battle, the battle for 6th. France, considered one of the "Big Five" leagues in Europe is in danger of falling out of the top six and losing its 3rd Champions League berth. Having only two berths (one automatic) from this point forward would be a disaster for the pride and prestige of France. Currently, three leagues (France, Portugal, and Russia) are battling for the 5th and 6th spots in the UEFA Coefficient rankings, which allocate three berths. One league will lose out. Here are the current standings: 5. France 51.249 6. Portugal 51.082 7. Russia 50.882 As can be seen there is less than a 1.5 gap between 5th and 7th, meaning things are going to get interesting come the late stages of the Champions League and, more likely, the Europa League.
I personally think there is only a big 4 apart from PSG both the Portuguese and Russian league have been superior in European performances
I have nothing against any of these countries, but I don't care about them either. I only enjoy british and german style of football (straight on goal), and I enjoy watching Italian footballers defend when they are in shape (which hasn't happened in the last 5-6 years to be honest). But other than that, I couldn't care less. Spain bores me, Portugal bores me, Russia bores me, France bores me, hell! even my own country (Romania) bores me to death (which is probably why I stopped following our garbage football some many years ago). If you asked me I'd only want to see a mix of German and British teams playing in Europe and that's about it. All other clubs and leagues can go straight to oblivion. As a neutral fan I wanna see quality football, and in the last years only germans and brits have offered it. As for Real Madrid and Barcelona... RM only wins with the referees (see the recent game against AS Roma in the UCL, and see every other game in La Liga where RM is subscribed to 1 penalty per game), and Barcelona is more preoccupied of completing hundreds of meaningless passes in the middle of the pitch then attacking the freakin goal. And when they attack the goal the games usually end in 9-0 / 10-0 (I'm exaggerating the score obviously, but you get the point) So, really, why should I care about France, Russia, or any other low tier league? Give me one valid reason!
superior to what? Have you seen the Porto - Dortmund double in the EL? Porto is a shadow of the former UCL winners (which has happened many years ago). Hell! Even Sporting Lisbon (which are the leaders in Portugal right now) have been destroyed by a not so good Bayer Leverkusen side. So again, to whom have Portuguese (let alone Russians) been superior to??
Your opinion is your opinion. But that opinion is pretty useless. German and English league teams only in the CL? Nothing like a good old long ball competition #excitement Go post about German and English leagues. If these leagues offer you nothing why bother posting about them. Out the door you go now.
The last time you have watched Germans and Brits play was probably 15-20 years ago (in which case your opinion doesn't matter). I, for one, have been watching Bundesliga and EPL WEEKLY for the last 10 years and I can rightfully say that the football I'm seeing in Bundesliga and EPL is anything but long passes, even for mid-table teams. whatever
Cool, you can post more about all that here: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/forums/germany.33/ and here: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/forums/premier-league.1251/
Italy, France and Russia have almost lost all of their participants. Lazio, PSG and Zenit could be the last Ita, Fra and Rus teams in Europe.