The paradox of English football

bóng đá Anh - Ảnh 1. — Man United (right) has had contrasting performances in domestic and continental competitions - Photo: REUTERS

Those are Man United, Tottenham (Europa League) and Chelsea (Conference League). Unless a major surprise occurs, English football will dominate the continent's two lower-tier competitions.

It's truly paradoxical that they had a poor season in the Champions League. In Europe's most prestigious competition, the two leading teams from the Premier League, Man City and Liverpool, were both eliminated early. Aston Villa performed quite well, reaching the quarter-finals, but Arsenal were completely helpless against PSG.

The paradox is even greater considering that Man United and Tottenham are among the worst-performing teams in the Premier League. They languished in the bottom half of the table for almost the entire season, at times even facing the risk of relegation. Yet in the Europa League, both teams performed exceptionally well. Man United even went unbeaten in all 14 matches.

Manchester United's path in the Europa League was far from easy. They had to face Real Sociedad, Lyon, and Athletic Bilbao – all top contenders for the title. All of these teams were in better form than Man United in their respective leagues. But the stronger the opponent, the better Man United played. Incredibly, the Red Devils managed to crush Bilbao with a 7-1 aggregate score.

Actually, it's a paradox... easily understandable. Manchester United and Tottenham have performed very poorly in their domestic leagues, so they've long since decided to give up on that competition and focus on the Europa League. In the Premier League, Manchester United have only won one of their last eight matches. But even so, they secured their survival almost 10 rounds early thanks to the weakness of Southampton, Leicester, and Ipswich Town. Tottenham are almost in a similar situation, with only 38 points after 35 rounds, just one point behind Manchester United. These are some of the worst seasons in the history of these two Premier League giants.

To see Manchester United's advantage, look at the positions of their rivals. In La Liga, Athletic Bilbao is in 4th place, 3 points ahead of the team below them. In Ligue 1, Lyon is in 7th place but only 3 points behind the top 4. With such fierce competition in their domestic leagues, it's understandable why these teams might struggle as they progress further in the Europa League.

In a demanding league like the Premier League, maintaining fitness is even more crucial. No team suffered as many injuries in the semi-finals as Arsenal. They were missing at least five players in both legs of the semi-final. Manchester United's situation wasn't much better, but at least they were competing in the Europa League, a competition with a lower overall standard.

Liverpool fared no better, spreading their ambitions thin across multiple competitions – a problem they face almost every season. That being said, their early exit from the Champions League allowed Arne Slot's team to focus all their efforts on the Premier League, resulting in an early title win.

As players' health deteriorates due to the demanding schedule, paradoxes like this season's are likely to become more common in the years to come.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nghich-ly-bong-da-anh-20250510002840748.htm