Billions spent and still no UCL final?

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UEFA Champions League Facebook

Nowadays football is based on big money. It’s no longer possible to win trophies without expenses. More and more clubs ascertain, that without spending huge amounts you won’t achieve any success. Stigma, which has sticked to clubs bought by financial magnates, fades and a lot of fans doesn’t complain about big spendings anymore. It doesn’t mean though, that huge transfers will surely provide trophies. Manchester City and PSG, clubs owned by sheikhs, are starting to realize that.

Both team dominated their leagues. With signing like Neymar, who cost 222 million euros, having world-class stars it’s hard to compete. In England Jürgen Klopp created a top team, which in any other situation would win the Premier League title, but under Guardiola his proteges achieved a cosmic level. Meanwhile in France PSG is the French champion every season since 2013 except for the 2016/17 season, when Monaco won the title and advanced to the Champions League semifinals.

Results in their leagues doesn’t have an impact on a play in Europe. Both team achieve of course further rounds than before, but semifinals is the maximum they could wish for. Expectations of the owners are obvious – winning the trophy should be their obligation. Both City and PSG achieved three times Round of 16, Englishmen reached quarterfinals twice and Frenchmen four times. ‘The Citizens’ were in semifinals in 2015/16 campaign, when they were eliminated by Real Madrid, Parisians on the other hand in the 1994/95 campaign.

So what are they missing? Probably experience in crucial games. There are only 5 players in both clubs, who won Champions League. Two of them, Claudio Bravo and Danilo are not the first choice in City right now. In PSG it looks a bit better, Dani Alves took part in both clashes against Manchester United, Angel Di Maria played splendidly versus ‘Red Devils’, but the rest of the team didn’t match his form. Neymar wanted to escape from Messi’s shadow, but he proves, that he won’t settle a result in the crucial game.

Any other expenses won’t resolve the problem. One of the current players should rather take responsibility under pressure, otherwise Barcelona and Real Madrid will win another Champions League title. Spanish teams are unbeaten since 2014. These two have the most possibilities dethrone current winners.

[photo: UEFA Champions League Facebook]

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