Premier League teams are 'way off' Champions League rivals as Real Madrid set the standard, says Rio Ferdinand
Ferdinand believes English sides cannot rival their Spanish, German and Italian counterparts while Steve McManaman questioned why they are always in transition
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Your support makes all the difference.Rio Ferdinand and Steve McManaman both believe that England’s best clubs are a long way off the leading teams in Europe after watching Real Madrid defeat rivals Atletico Madrid in a Champions League semi-final that highlighted the gulf that the Premier League have allowed to develop.
Real Madrid held off a spirited Atletico fightback on Wednesday to progress to next month’s final courtesy of a 4-2 aggregate victory, giving Zinedine Zidane’s side the chance to win a third European Cup in the space of four years if they can conquer Italian league champions Juventus.
The match did not go without it’s worries for the reigning champions though, with Atletico needing just 16 minutes to make it 2-0 and move to within one goal of taking the tie to extra-time thanks to goals from Saul Niguez and Antoine Griezmann, only for Isco to strike a crucial blow for Real and secure the away goal that killed off the encounter.
Regardless of the loss, Atletico manager Diego Simeone was justifiably proud of his side given their defiant performance, and former Champions League winner Ferdinand admitted that their display – along wioth Real’s emphatic first-leg victory – showed just how far ahead of the Premier League’s best that Spain’s elite were.
“All our English teams are way off this standard,” BT Sport pundit Ferdinand said. “Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus. There's a lot of money that's come into the English game, but all the English teams seem to be in a transition. New managers, new teams.
“Chelsea are the nearest, they have a real settled team and their first XI is a real, genuine first XI. I think Jose Mourinho is still searching for his first XI, he's still not sure of a few players. This summer will be huge for them.”
Former Liverpool and Real midfielder McManaman, who won two Champions League trophies with the Spanish side, took issue with Ferdinand’s use of the work “transition”, and questioned why this is repeatedly used as an excuse for English sides failing in Europe.
“I just feel like the English teams are in transition all the time,” McManaman argued. “This is Real Madrid's seventh consecutive semi-final. It's no surprise that Madrid, Bayern, Barcelona, Juve, they're getting to the latter stages every single year.
“They change a few little nuances every year. In England it's ‘Oh we've had a bad season, let's rip it up and start again.’ We seem to be chasing all the time. We need a little bit of patience with the managers, we need to keep all of our better players.
“The better players never leave here [Madrid], or at Juve. When we get a star man in the Premier League – Chelsea and Eden Hazard, it's ‘Real Madrid want him. ‘ Coutinho, oh ‘Barcelona want him’. They're looking over their shoulders all the time.”
An English side has not won the Champions League since Chelsea’s success in 2011/12, with the Premier League failing to have a representative in the final since that victory at the Allianz Arena.
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