Sevilla 2-3 Borussia Dortmund - Wednesday 17th February, 2021 (1st Leg)

[Mpache]

1 hour ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

Too many South Americans 

Seriously though, what can you expect from a greedy corporate whore of a league that put the success of two clubs above all others, and starved every other club of revenue and exposure. As soon as Madrid and Barca faltered the league had not one leg to stand on. 

It's not just Barcelona and Real Madrid who have had success though, but tbf they were the only consistent ones. Even with Sevilla's Europa League runs they could never form a formidable title challenge and that speaks volumes I think.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

4 minutes ago, Mpache said:

It's not just Barcelona and Real Madrid who have had success though, but tbf they were the only consistent ones. Even with Sevilla's Europa League runs they could never form a formidable title challenge and that speaks volumes I think.

Have you seen the breakdown of funding? Barca and madrid would get more TV money than all other teams in the league combined. No way to run a league. 

[Mpache]

Just now, Devil-Dick Willie said:

Have you seen the breakdown of funding? Barca and madrid would get more TV money than all other teams in the league combined. No way to run a league. 

I have, but we shouldn't ignore Atletico's underdog stories over the past decade. Their boom is probably done now though.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

6 minutes ago, Mpache said:

I have, but we shouldn't ignore Atletico's underdog stories over the past decade. Their boom is probably done now though.

They're literally winning the league. 

And you're not seeing my point. My point isn't measuring the success of teams who aren't Barca and Madrid, I'm questioning how the fuck anyone was supposed to maintain their success if they're not being backed by the league. 

[Mpache]

Just now, Devil-Dick Willie said:

They're literally winning the league. 

And you're not seeing my point. My point isn't measuring the success of teams who aren't Barca and Madrid, I'm questioning how the fuck anyone was supposed to maintain their success if they're not being backed by the league. 

Yeah fair enough then.

[Michael]

11 hours ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

Good point made in commentary, and one I made when Spike I think it was, was trying to lord La Liga over the Bundesliga.
La Liga teams struggle to handle the pace and directness of Bundesliga attacks. A half dozen well drilled better conditioned athletes playing at high pace coming straight in on goal after a high turnover isn't an easy thing to adjust to when you're used to trying to out maneuver and out position far more passive teams week in week out

The German Bundesliga and the English Premier League have easily been the strongest two leagues for a while now. You only need to look at the calibre of the foreign players in their teams(and their local players at that) to understand that they have better quality players in their two respective leagues overall. The Champions League will once again be won by either a Bundesliga team or a team from the Premiership. It is only really PSG who could potentially put a stop to that, but my favourites are Bayern Munich and Man City. Although Liverpool and Dortmund can't be ruled out if they garner some more consistency in their performances, because they certainly have the quality. 

As you eluded to, the pace and directness of German clubs and English clubs is too much to handle for clubs from other leagues like the Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Russian etc. This directness and speed, as well as the general adventurousness of most of their teams, also leads to exciting matches in their respective leagues, where there are usually plenty of goals. This however doesn't detract from the quality of many of the defenders that they have, as we see in Europe, that teams from these 2 respective leagues usually dominate teams from other leagues.