As soon as the Champions League quarterfinals came out, England was boiling.

And the most embarrassing is Italian football. Serie A, known as the mini-World Cup, has only one club in the quarterfinals of the Champions League this season. That is, Rome.

It's a pity that Roma's draw was not very good, and they ran into Arsenal, the nemesis of Serie A clubs.

Arsenal have faced Italian teams several times in recent years, and each time they have the absolute upper hand. Even when he faced Juventus twice in the Group of Death, he trampled Juventus under his feet.

Although Serie A still has many world-class stars, there is no doubt that the competitiveness of Serie A has declined. And Roma was able to break through from the group stage, which has a lot to do with Blackburn, who has already locked the first place in the group stage, in the final round of the group stage and does not pay much attention to it.

Barcelona are also counting on Blackburn to beat Roma. That would allow them to come on goal difference, but George didn't have that awareness. Otherwise, as long as George pays attention, it will be really difficult for Roma to break through from the group stage.

In the quarterfinals of the Champions League in the 98-99 season, there are still two clubs in Serie A. In the 99-00 season, there was only one club left in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and last season's Champions League was a club that did not make it out of the group stage.

Serie A has gradually degenerated from the World Cup since childhood.

As for the other leagues, it varies.

At present, La Liga, the strongest league in the world, has only one place, and it is the powerful Real Madrid. Barcelona and Deportivo La Coruna were all lost in the group stage.

In the Bundesliga, there are two clubs in the knockout stages of the Champions League. Bayern and Bayer Leverkusen.

Only the Premier League, which has been in the quarterfinals of the Champions League for two consecutive seasons, has three places. And these three places happen to be the Premier League places for the Champions League. And from next season, there will be four Champions League places in the Premier League.

Since Manchester United won the Champions League in 98-99, the Premier League has inadvertently formed a group advantage in the Champions League.

In the past three seasons, among the Champions League quarterfinals, the fewest Premier League clubs were the year before last, with two clubs. But Blackburn also won a League Cup that year. Since then, it has been three places. Although Manchester United have not won the Champions League since 99. But the strength of the Premier League is evident.

And all along, in the Champions League, it is Manchester United that carries the flag. Arsenal basically used to play soy sauce.

But I don't know if it was Manchester United who won the Champions League and encouraged the English team. Since then, English clubs have played the group stage on a one-to-one basis. Look at Arsenal, which has always been weak in the Champions League, and last year's two groups of death were able to break through.

This season's Group of Death is drawn by four European powerhouses. But Arsenal trampled Juventus and Deportivo under their feet again and entered the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

Now with the addition of Blackburn, a strong team.

The Premier League is getting stronger and stronger in the Champions League.

So the English media was excited.

………… But after half a month, the English media was more than excited. It's crazy. The whole English media went crazy.

Because half a month, that is, on April 11, after playing the second game of the Champions League quarterfinals, the list of the Champions League semifinals came out, and the whole of Europe saw what it means to be strong. I saw what group advantage is.

First of all, Blackburn, on April 3, drew 1-1 with Panathinaikos in the away game.

Let many people see that Panathinaikos from Greece is not a fish belly that everyone deceives. But George was very happy because he got a draw away from home and scored an away goal. George is confident about playing at home.

George's self-confidence is definitely not untargeted. Rather, it is based on the strength of both teams.

Of course, in order to prevent the same thing as last season, George was very careful about the second game.

Think about everything that can happen. Then analyzed them one by one, George analyzed almost all kinds of contingencies. There were seven or eight contingency plans in various ways, which made Evan and Carl next to them cry and laugh.

But they could understand George.

Last season, in such a favorable situation, it was turned over by Valencia. George was understandably worried.

Luckily, the race went very well.

At home, Blackburn Rovers didn't give Panathinaikos any leeway. At the end of the first half, it was already 2-0 ahead. Let George even come on in the second half with a comeback Klose. After Klose's comeback, his form was not very consistent.

George hopes Klose will be able to get back to his form as soon as possible.

In the second half, Pire scored again and beat Panathinaikos 3-0 cleanly.

In this way, Blackburn won 4-1 over two legs against Panathinaikos. And Blackburn Rovers reached the last four of the Champions League for the first time in their history.

Blackburn could reach the last four of the Champions League, which was expected by all the media. After all, Blackburn's strength is there, and a Premier League champion team facing the Greek champion team is an upset if it can't appear.

In the other game, Manchester United played Bayer Leverkusen.

Alex Ferguson's Manchester United have been in poor form in the Premier League this season. Towards the end of the season, Blackburn was twenty points behind. What kind of gap is this. But it's still very strong in the Champions League.

In the first game on April 4, they played Bayer Leverkusen away. Historically, Bayer Leverkusen have been strong this season. And it is also the famous king of Sanya. Invincible in the Champions League, he played until the Champions League final.

It's a pity that Bayer Leverkusen ran into the old and spicy Ferguson.

Ferguson was really strong. Especially when it comes to such an important game, it is even stronger. On the road, it turned out to be a 2-1 win over the mighty Bayer Leverkusen.

In the second game on 10 April, United beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 at Old Trafford.

In this way, Leverkusen, which was extremely powerful in history, could only stop at the quarterfinals. Manchester United, on the other hand, scored 3-1 on aggregate over two legs and entered the Champions League semi-finals.

This is not the end.

Arsenal's game against Roma, Arsenal is even more relaxed.

It should be said that Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, facing the big man of utilitarian football Capello, is difficult to win. But that's not the case.

Arsenal's first game away at Roma was a 2-0 win over Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. And after returning to the home stadium, it was a three-to-one, which made Roma go home crying.

Even George couldn't understand why Rome coached by Capello suffered such a heavy defeat to Arsenal.

Anyway, when the game was over, when the results came out, everyone was dumbfounded.

The Premier League has completed three of the Champions League semi-finals, and the Premier League is completely a three-England match for Real Madrid.

No one thought of this.

Even The Times wrote "Premier League Boom! Such a title.

"Fourteen years after the Heysel tragedy, Manchester United, the Premier League hegemon, regained the Champions League title on behalf of the English team."

"Then the Premier League teams started to work in the Champions League. Last season there were three quarter-finals places and one team reached the last four of the Champions League. And this season's Champions League semi-finals, there are already three teams. ”

"Europe, we're back!"

"The original League One, now we are back in the name of the Premier League!"

English football is really aggrieved to say. When League One swept European football that year, teams such as Liverpool, Villa, Nottingham Forest, and Everton were all European powerhouses. How good the League One was at that time can be shown with the simplest data.

It was eight years from 1977, when Liverpool won their club's first Champions League, to 1984, when Liverpool won their club's fourth Champions League. In those eight seasons, League One clubs have won seven of them.

Four for Liverpool, two for Nottingham Forest and one for Aston Villa. Eight seasons, seven Champions Leagues, what kind of dominance is that.

Of course, in 1985, when the "Heysel tragedy" happened, Liverpool was still the strongest team in Europe at that time, and finally reached the Champions League final. At that time, the call for Liverpool to win a fifth Champions League title was high, and many people also believed that Liverpool had the quality. But people are not as good as heaven, there was a tragedy that no one imagined, and of course there was a controversial penalty in the game, and Liverpool eventually lost the game.

It was the hateful "Heysel Massacre" that made the English football world a big wound.

It was a watershed moment when League One went from being the number one league in the world to dominating European football to becoming a league for English people to amuse.

The ban, in particular, made it impossible for English football to attract world-class superstars. It also makes English football far away from European football because of its isolation. In the end, it slowly fell behind European football. It wasn't until the ban was lifted that they played in European football, and English football people understood that they were already much, much behind European football.

It took almost a decade for English football to recover before it was back in front of European football.

As the originator of modern football, English football is proud. However, the unsatisfactory performance of the Premier League in Europe has made the English football world a little depressed. They are all waiting for the Premier League to stand tall in Europe.

Now they've waited.

Since Manchester United won the Champions League, Premier League clubs have been getting better and better in the Champions League.

In this season's Champions League semi-finals, three teams surrounded Real Madrid.

If you don't show off at this time, then it's not the English media.

The Times is just a representative. All the English media were covering the spectacle.

The whole world of English football is like a holiday.

Those so-called famous players in English football who usually don't know where the cat is, have also come out. They also came out to celebrate together. All mean the same thing. It's that English football is finally back!

(To be continued)