The Premier League is the dominant force in the Champions League: Saturday’s final will be the fifth in six years to feature at least one English team. Football generally works in cycles, though, and the rest of the continent will be plotting to take over again.
In the five finals before 2018, there was not an English side in sight and Spain was lording it over its rivals. Real Madrid won four out of five from 2013 in their dominant cycle, but they have been overtaken. Manchester City enter their second Champions League final in three years against Internazionale, who are the first Italian team since 2017 to reach this stage of a competition Serie A has dominated in the past. In the 10 seasons starting in 1988-89 an Italian club reached nine finals and won four.
