Many people will disagree perhaps that this is a memorable moment unless they are wanting to gloat at Manchester United's failure in Europe this season. But I believe when we look back at this in years to come and forgetting the fact that it highlights a United downfall, it will be a case of "do you remember when...." All I am saying is to forget for a moment that United were the opposition and just enjoy the moment as if you were a fan of Athletic Bilbao. The Basque club from northern Spain made all the headlines in England through March due to not one but two victories over Manchester United in the Europa Cup.
There are potentially United fans out that would read this piece thinking that the only reason that it is being written is to the detriment of the club – it is not but the two games did highlight more than any others recently how far perhaps the English league has fallen.
If you believe all the hype – England has the best league in the world! The facts certainly do not suggest that but perhaps do suggest that it is the most entertaining and open league but the standard is not the best overall.
You only have to take one look at this Athletic Bilbao team to understand why. We all know that Spain at the moment is still on an all-time high having won both the European Championships and the World Cup and understandably so. But lets not kid ourselves that their league is as open as the English one. One lookin at the current La Liga table says it all with Real Madrid at the top and Barcelona in second place. Valencia are third and they are nearly twenty points behind Barca.
Bilbao at the time of writing this are down in eighth place and are currently not even in a Europa League spot for next season. However, the league is very tight taking the top two out of the equation as they are only four points behind Levante who are currently fourth and in a Champions League spot for next season.
Some of the other big names in Spanish football are in even a worse predicament right now. Atletico Madrid – winners of the Europa Cup just two years ago are down in tenth, Sevilla who won the UEFA Cup in consecutive seasons in 05/06 and 06/07 are in twelfth, Villareal who qualified for the Champions League just three years ago and have played in the Europa League for the past two seasons are currently fourth from bottom and Deportivo La Coruna (La Liga champions in 2000) and Celta Vigo have both been relegated.
In most leagues you can pick a handful of sides that will contest the league title before a ball has actually been kicked. Rangers (until recent events) and Celtic in Scotland, Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon in Portugal and so on. What has happened though and has become even more paramount in recent times is the gulf between the elite and the rest due to money gained by Champions League entry. So when a club such as Manchester United who year in and year out are in the Champions League and are worth over £1 billion pounds on the Forbes exchange lose to a Bilbao side currently outside of even the European places in La Liga I have to ask what has happened.
Was it a fluke? Did United completely outplay Bilbao but were just beaten by goals scored against the run of play? The answer is in both cases is no which deepens the query. The fact is that United were outplayed in both legs – even Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that the better team won through. So are the seventh placed Spanish team now a better team that England's best based on their track record of the past 20 years?
We even saw a right back in Andoni Iraola trying to score what would have been one of the best goals of all time with such audacity that he showed no respect at all for his opponents. In the first game we had United defender Rafael glued to the floor as he let a ten yard advantage disappear to stop Bilbao score their third goal at Old Trafford. Finally I cannot end talking about Bilbao without a word about the truly amazing support their fans gave their team both home and away. If there were United fans in Bilbao they could not be heard on TV at least and in Manchester the Bilbao fans gave the United fans a good run for their money with the sound that they created even though they were probably outnumbered by about ten to one.
Manchester City do not fair any better as far as atmosphere goes if we are to believe what we hear it is like on TV. For the first half of their match against Lisbon it was pretty dead and it was only when City gave themselves a chance of going through did the fans seem to actually wake up as well. City's demise in Europe this season is nearly as spectacular as United's but it is the red half of Manchester than wins this award purely because of their track record whereas City are still trying to prove themselves regardless as to how much money they throw at it. In both cases though and baring in mind that these are the two clubs battling it out for this years title – what do the fans of Bilbao and Lisbon in particular thing of the English Premier League right now? They are both probably thinking that if they were here that they could win it!
There are potentially United fans out that would read this piece thinking that the only reason that it is being written is to the detriment of the club – it is not but the two games did highlight more than any others recently how far perhaps the English league has fallen.
If you believe all the hype – England has the best league in the world! The facts certainly do not suggest that but perhaps do suggest that it is the most entertaining and open league but the standard is not the best overall.
You only have to take one look at this Athletic Bilbao team to understand why. We all know that Spain at the moment is still on an all-time high having won both the European Championships and the World Cup and understandably so. But lets not kid ourselves that their league is as open as the English one. One lookin at the current La Liga table says it all with Real Madrid at the top and Barcelona in second place. Valencia are third and they are nearly twenty points behind Barca.
Bilbao at the time of writing this are down in eighth place and are currently not even in a Europa League spot for next season. However, the league is very tight taking the top two out of the equation as they are only four points behind Levante who are currently fourth and in a Champions League spot for next season.
Some of the other big names in Spanish football are in even a worse predicament right now. Atletico Madrid – winners of the Europa Cup just two years ago are down in tenth, Sevilla who won the UEFA Cup in consecutive seasons in 05/06 and 06/07 are in twelfth, Villareal who qualified for the Champions League just three years ago and have played in the Europa League for the past two seasons are currently fourth from bottom and Deportivo La Coruna (La Liga champions in 2000) and Celta Vigo have both been relegated.
In most leagues you can pick a handful of sides that will contest the league title before a ball has actually been kicked. Rangers (until recent events) and Celtic in Scotland, Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon in Portugal and so on. What has happened though and has become even more paramount in recent times is the gulf between the elite and the rest due to money gained by Champions League entry. So when a club such as Manchester United who year in and year out are in the Champions League and are worth over £1 billion pounds on the Forbes exchange lose to a Bilbao side currently outside of even the European places in La Liga I have to ask what has happened.
Was it a fluke? Did United completely outplay Bilbao but were just beaten by goals scored against the run of play? The answer is in both cases is no which deepens the query. The fact is that United were outplayed in both legs – even Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that the better team won through. So are the seventh placed Spanish team now a better team that England's best based on their track record of the past 20 years?
We even saw a right back in Andoni Iraola trying to score what would have been one of the best goals of all time with such audacity that he showed no respect at all for his opponents. In the first game we had United defender Rafael glued to the floor as he let a ten yard advantage disappear to stop Bilbao score their third goal at Old Trafford. Finally I cannot end talking about Bilbao without a word about the truly amazing support their fans gave their team both home and away. If there were United fans in Bilbao they could not be heard on TV at least and in Manchester the Bilbao fans gave the United fans a good run for their money with the sound that they created even though they were probably outnumbered by about ten to one.
Manchester City do not fair any better as far as atmosphere goes if we are to believe what we hear it is like on TV. For the first half of their match against Lisbon it was pretty dead and it was only when City gave themselves a chance of going through did the fans seem to actually wake up as well. City's demise in Europe this season is nearly as spectacular as United's but it is the red half of Manchester than wins this award purely because of their track record whereas City are still trying to prove themselves regardless as to how much money they throw at it. In both cases though and baring in mind that these are the two clubs battling it out for this years title – what do the fans of Bilbao and Lisbon in particular thing of the English Premier League right now? They are both probably thinking that if they were here that they could win it!
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