English top-tier teams missing from last eight
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 15, 2013
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Arsenal edged out by nervy Bayern despite glorious win in Munich. |
The self-proclaimed "best league in the world" was having a long look at itself in the mirror yesterday after Arsenal's exit left the English Premier League with no quarterfinalists in Europe's blue riband club competition for the first time in 17 years.
Arsenal's impressive 2-0 victory in Munich came too late to rescue the Gunners who went out on away goals after a 1-3 defeat in the home leg, leaving them on this season's Champions League scrapheap along with Manchester United, last year's winner Chelsea and Manchester City.
The Premier League hierachy will no doubt insist it is a blip and not a clear sign of a decline in quality in the richest league in the world, but Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted it was a wake-up call.
"It's a massive disappointment for English football," the Frenchman said in the aftermath of Arsenal's brave, but doomed, fightback in Bavaria.
"We accept the rest of European football has caught us."
Arsenal fell at the last-16 hurdle for the third consecutive season, while United was unlucky to go out against Real Madrid last week at the same stage. Chelsea became the first holder to fail to survive the group stage while English champion City finished bottom of its group.
It is a far cry from the days when English clubs dominated the latter stages. Between 2007 and 2009 England boasted nine semifinalists. In 2007-08 Chelsea played Manchester United in the final and the following season three of the four semifinalists were English even if Barcelona won the title. Since then only three English clubs have reached the semis although Chelsea did win the title last season.
Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes played down the significance of this season's Premier League failure. "I think comparisons like this don't bring much," he said. "We have had German teams knocked out early in previous years. You get cycles like that in football."
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