Why Do English Teams Fail To Make An Impact On European Soccer?

A crash course in European football.

Via radiotimes.com

The Barclays Premier League is possibly the best league in the world when it comes to the talent of every team in the league. With teams like Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal the BPL has an extreme amount of talent. This talent is spread out to every team, and for that reason any team can win any game depending on the day.

However, because the BPL is so competitive against each other they have created their own style of play. This play style does not help them win in the Champions League. In the Champions League, for the past couple of years, a free flowing style of football seems to work best. Due to the competitiveness of the BPL the major teams are restricted from playing the free flowing style.

Via citizentv.co.ke

This was best on display in the recent matchup between Manchester City, who were undefeated in the BPL, faced Italian side Juventus, who haven’t won a game in the Serie A. Juventus managed to beat Manchester City 2-1. This showed that teams from other leagues can adapt to the play style needed in the Champions League.

Shaun Botterill / Via bleacherreport.com

With that said, not every team can adapt to the play style needed for the Champions League. In the past few years it has been the teams from the Spanish Liga BBVA, the German Bundesliga, and the Italian Serie A that have been able to adapt their playing styles and bring home trophies or make it far in the tournament.

This year proves to be another exciting tournament as the European powerhouses play each other. So far Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, AS Roma, Bayern Munchen, and PSV have had great starts to the tournament. The main question however will be if any of the four BPL teams in Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, or Manchester United make it out of the Champions League group stage.