For the first time in 24 years, Spain will be represented by a single team in the Champions League final price in the person of the defending champion and record holder Real Madrid, which raises a question mark about the current competitive strength of the Spanish League, which appears to be lagging behind, mathematically and economically, from its English rival.
With the group stage reaching its final round, Spanish football finds itself in the heart of dealing with the situation it is currently in.
And if Real Madrid, who receives Celtic of Scotland next Wednesday, ensured that they obtained one of the two Group F tickets to the final price, then Seville, who is a guest of Manchester City on the same night, has lost any hope of qualifying for Group G.
Barcelona will find consolation in continuing its continental campaign in the “Europe League” competition, after Bayern Munich and Inter won the third group cards, similar to Atletico Madrid, which needs to beat Porto in its stronghold today, Tuesday in the second group, or the loss of Bayer Leverkusen against Club Brugge. The Belgian, to move to the playoffs of the second continental competition in terms of importance.
The last time that only one Spanish team exceeded the group stage dates back to the 1998-1999 season, when Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao exited the competition, which consisted of 24 teams at the time, while Real qualified in particular before ending its campaign in the quarter-finals at the hands of Ukrainian Dynamo Kyiv.
"Disaster of the Century"
The disappointment of the Spanish clubs this season did not pass without sounding the alarm, as the newspaper "El Mundo" talked about the "disaster of the century for Spanish football", wondering whether it was "a coincidence or a serious problem?"
"In recent years, Spanish football has been swimming in uncertainty. Sports doubt and economic uncertainty. Are these clubs inferior to what they were 10 years ago?"
She also asked, "Is the financial dominance of the English Premier League temporary, or will it continue for a long time?", considering that after the penultimate fifth round matches, "we got part of the answer on Wednesday evening," referring to the qualification of Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea to the final price, In addition, Tottenham topped their group, while Barcelona came out after a humiliating defeat against Bayern at home 0-3, and Atletico drew with Leverkusen 2-2, and Seville after a draw with Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City, despite its victory over Copenhagen 3-0.
This decline will have economic consequences, with the widening of the gap between the Spanish clubs as a result of Real Madrid receiving about 11 million euros as soon as it reaches the final price, and sporting consequences as well, with the difference between the second Spanish and German third leagues in the European Union classification (UEFA) narrowing.
In a statement last week, La Liga president Javier Tebas softened the impact of what is happening with some hesitation, saying, "If this happens to us for five years in a row...", without being able to finish his sentence, "We should not be concerned. It's a disappointment, not a disaster."
For Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez, "Every group is different, you have to analyze each exit separately. Juventus (Italian) also went out.. So, no. I don't think there is a problem in Spanish football."
"You cannot say that the level of La Liga has fallen. I still think that La Liga is at the level of the Premier League," he added.
The Barcelona fans, despite all the disasters, are still passionate about their passion. A ZD shot might guarantee us winning the La Liga ❤️💙pic.twitter.com/w0SkPmV8rj
- Mustafa (@mostavic) October 26, 2022
"We lost something"
As for his former teammate Xabi Alonso, who recently took over the task of supervising German Bayer Leverkusen, he seemed more cautious than the former Barcelona star.
Alonso said that "the prestige of Spanish football in Europe is enormous, but the development is very fast in other countries. We are not talking here only about the English Premier League, but also about France, Italy and Germany .. the fact that only one club out of 4 qualified for the final price indicates that The competition is very strong and we lost something."
For the leaders of Spanish football, the one responsible for the decline is well known, which is the English Premier League, which was represented in the Champions League final during 4 of the last five editions.
Even two of these final matches were English, while the Premier League lost two final matches against one Spanish team, Real Madrid, who last season raised their record to 14 titles in the main continental competition.
"We have to correct what is happening in the Premier League because the market has become a bubble and is unsustainable. There is no longer any economic control. This is a topic we will bring to the UEFA table," Tebas warned in September.
But the Spanish League must look at a threat beyond England: the German League can have four representatives in the last 16 this season, while the Italian League has guaranteed the presence of two representatives, and the number may rise to 3 if Milan qualify, at a time when the League will be The Portuguese has a great opportunity to qualify his third representative to this role, that is, more than two representatives from the "La Liga" league.