It is no secret that one major concern for some of the biggest teams and leagues around Europe – namely the wealth of Premier League clubs – is seen as a blight on the potential for competition, a problematic pox which must be beaten down at all costs.
There were, indeed, reports of some top European sides being in a somewhat celebratory mood when a succession of Premier League teams exited Uefa competitions in the same week earlier this term, the “perceived hubris” of the English top flight brought low by the likes of Bayern Munich, Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid.
