Four English teams in the Champions League....again!

With 28 minutes gone of the first leg in Switzerland, it seemed highly unlikely at the time that at 9.45pm on Wednesday 25th August that Spurs would be joining Europe's elite in the biggest European Club Competition in the world. However, Sebastien Bassong made up for his mistake by burying a header prior to half time and a great finish from Roman Pavlyuchenko (the only thing he did all night....besides breathe and run around a bit) gave Spurs hope before Peter Crouch sealed Spurs' fate (with some help from Jermain Defoe) with an, almost perfect, hat-trick back at a buzzing White Hart Lane.

With a stroke of fortune, I was lucky enough to watch the game live with my younger brother and, now that I rarely go, I couldn't have been more happy with my accidental day off work. As I sleep tonight, I will be dreaming of trips to The San Siro, The Bernabeu, The Nou Camp and many other fine locations across Europe. Yet, I also have been thinking of the strength, once again, of the English Premier League. Many football fans are commenting on the rise of La Liga once again and how it is beginning to overtake the EPL once again yet I fail to believe it. We have had our trade of the best players - Ronaldo for David Silva, Fabregas turning down the chance to sign for Barcelona to remain with Arsenal at the, potential, expense of Javier Mascherano jumping at the opportunity to take his place and that of one of many Manchester City's recent recruits, Yaya Toure. There are probably more but I could be here all night listing players that have swapped this league for that and vice versa.

Out of the respective fourth team finishes, it was the team from England (Tottenham) that proved successful over the two legs as Sevilla of Spain crashed out to Braga 5-3 on aggregate leaving the EPL 4-3 up over there Spanish counterparts. In fact, of the supposed 'Big Three' leagues of Europe (EPL, La Liga and Serie A), England are, once again, the country most represented in Europe's Biggest Competition. This further indicates the strength of the EPL especially as Tottenham are new to the competition at the expense of Liverpool once again highlighting the fact that once team goes, another one can step in very (un*)comfortably to take there place.

So I am of the opinion that the EPL is still the best and strongest league throughout Europe and our representation in The Champions League further emphasises this fact. I am more excited than ever about the 2010/11 competition courtesy of my team finally joining the adult dining table for the first time since it's creation and who knows, maybe see you all at Wembley in May (hey, we can all dream can't we)

It's been an emotional and enjoyable evening and I am going to leave you all to it. I will write again on another took in due time until then, good morning.

Laters,

Macca

(* I used the "un" in relation to the first 28 minutes of the Young Boys - Tottenham Hotspur match in Switzerland)