The Premier League has been regarded by many as the top European football league for many years. However, that has not always translated into success in the European club competitions.
Prior to Liverpool reaching the final last season, you must go back to 2012 to find the last time a Premier League club reached the show-piece occasion. Indeed, Chelsea are the last English team to lift the title and since then the Champions League has been won by five times by Spanish clubs and once by a German club.
The same can be said for the Europa League. Only Manchester United and Chelsea have won the competition in the last past 17 years and that’s not the sign of a league which is producing the top teams.
However, that has all changed this season and regardless of the outcome in the Champions League and Europa League finals, both winners will come from the English Premier League. It is the first time in the history of the competitions that all four finalists will represent the same country and that is a remarkable achievement.
There have been only two English finals in European history prior to this season. Manchester United beat Chelsea in the 2007/08 Champions League and Tottenham beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1971/72 UEFA Cup. That has now doubled in just one season.
Is this a one off or something we should start getting used to?
Interestingly, in both 2014 and 2016 three of the four European finalists came from the same country, Spain. In 2011, both teams in the Europa League final were from Portugal and in 2012 they were both from Spain. The 2008 Champions League final, as highlighted above, also featured two teams from the same country, so you could say what has happened this season has been coming for a while.
The fact it has been achieved by four teams from the richest domestic league in world football should also not come as a surprise.
That being said, the fitness levels of the players in both the Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur teams especially, should not be underestimated. The way both teams kept going despite being up against it in their second leg games was phenomenal. Trent Alexander-Arnold, James Milner, Lucas Moura and Son Heung-min were incredible and that in part has to be as a result of playing in a hugely competitive league.
There is no doubt the Champions League has become dominated by the biggest and richest clubs in European football over recent years, with the odd exception. However, it takes more than just throwing money at players to bring out the best in them, just ask fans of Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain for example.
Both Barcelona and Real Madrid will improve their squads over the summer months but realistically, who is going to compete with Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester United next season?
There is a very good chance we could see another all English final in at least one of the competitions. If we do, it could be the start of a dominant era for the Premier League in Europe.