Soccer Update

It has been a relatively dull soccer season unless you are a Liverpool fan.  In England, Liverpool has already clinched the Premier League title with four games left in the season.  In Scotland, Celtic has done the same.  The F.A. Cup final will be between Crystal Palace and Manchester City, and the Scottish F.A. Cup final will be Aberdeen v. Celtic (Rangers was upset by Queen's Park in the Round of 16).

So that leaves the Champions League.  You will recall that a few years ago, UEFA changed the rules so that teams had to fund themselves from their soccer operations.  This rule was intended to prevent owners from using their fortunes to build super teams, but as a practical matter it gives an incredible advantage to the three biggest clubs in Europe:  Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich.  Since 2012, these three clubs have dominated the Champions League.  Only the English clubs have been able to challenge them:

2013:  Bayern Munich (GER)
2014:  Real Madrid (ESP)

2015:  Barcelona (ESP)

2016:  Real Madrid (ESP)

2017:  Real Madrid (ESP)

2018:  Real Madrid (ESP)

2019:  Liverpool (ENG)

2020:  Bayern Munich (GER)

2021:  Chelsea (ENG)

2022:  Real Madrid (ESP)

2023:  Manchester City (ENG)
2024:  Real Madrid (ESP)

This system has largely killed my interest in the Champions' League, as there's not much point in watching so long as Real Madrid is alive.  And so, when Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich all cruised into the quarter-finals during this season, I felt pretty safe in ignoring the competition -- especially as Liverpool had already been eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain.  But then we had some upsets.  Here were the quarter-final results over two legs:

Aston Villa (ENG) 4 - 5 Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)

Real Madrid (ESP) 1 - 5 Arsenal (ENG)
Borussia Dortmund (GER) 3 - 5 Barcelona (ESP)

Inter Milan (ITA) 4 - 3 Bayern Munich (GER)

So that gives us the following two-leg semi-finals:

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) v. Arsenal (ENG)
Inter Milan (ITA) v. Barcelona (ESP)

PSG has already eliminated Liverpool and Aston Villa, and my guess is that they will complete their sweep over the English clubs by eliminating Arsenal.  And I expect Barca to roll over Inter and PSG to keep the title in the hands of the Big Three.  But at least it won't be Real Madrid, and that's about all we can hope for these days.