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News24 - Forget the European Super League - we already have one
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Magical, miraculous, mesmerising, mind-blowing, marvellous, magnificent, majestic. Forget about creating a European Super League – because we’ve already got one on our doorstep. It’s called the Premier League. From Vincent Kompany’s spellbinding winner for Manchester City against Leicester on Monday night, to Liverpool and Tottenham’s back-to-back Champions League miracles, that was the most exhilarating 48 hours of football I can ever remember. Nothing compares with it in my lifetime. As a kid, I recall two FA Cup semi-finals on the same day in 1990 which took your breath away – Alan Pardew’s extra-time winner as Crystal Palace beat Liverpool 4-3 and Oldham holding Manchester United 3-3 in another see-saw thriller a few hours later. But this week’s events in the Champions League have convinced me the Premier League is not just the most exciting division in the world – which it has been for some time – but it is now also the best league. We have the best coaches – Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino – the best players, the best stadiums, the best wages, the best competition and, certainly on the evidence of the last few days, the greatest never-say-die attitude. I don’t want to be controversial for the sake of it, because my pal Freddie Flintoff certainly made big waves in the Ashes 14 years ago, but no other sport – cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, boxing - can change a nation’s mood like football. And certainly not when it’s played with as much verve, passion, skill and desire as Liverpool and Spurs showed this week. Liverpool overturned a three-goal deficit and beat Spain’s La Liga champions 4-0 without two of their front three, Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino. And they did it through unbelievable willpower, like the message conveyed on Salah’s shirt that night: Never Give Up. Tottenham wiped out a three-goal deficit on aggregate in 40 minutes without their best player, Harry Kane. They did it without spending a penny in the last two transfer windows. And they did it after taking just one point from their first three games in the qualifying group. Astonishing. With Arsenal and Chelsea through to the Europa League final, it’s been an historic week. Four clubs from the same country have made it through to two major finals in Europe. I always used to think La Liga was the benchmark for quality. But now Cristiano Ronaldo has left Real Madrid, and you wonder how much longer the genius of Lionel Messi can keep pulling rabbits from the hat for Barcelona, I think the overall standard in English football is higher. Regardless of whether they win the title this weekend, and their destiny is not entirely in their own hands, Liverpool are back as one of the powerhouses of Europe. You can’t tell me all that history, and back-to-back Champions League final appearances, makes them anything less than super-heavyweights. And even if City are crowned champions again in the Wanda Metropolitano on June 1st, either of Klopp or Poche
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