It is interesting that arguably the best teams are not neccersairly in the best leagues in the world. So i thought I would mention my favourites and see what others thought. Best Teams in Order 1. Barcelona 2. Real Madrid 3. FC Bayern 4. Man Utd 5. Chelsea 6. Juventus 7. Dortmund 8. Man City ( even as poor as they have been in europe) Best Leagues (to watch not neccersairly best teams) in Order 1. EPL 2. German 3. French 4. Spanish 5. Italian (would be higher if not for constant match fixing scandal). I do think the EPL is the best league in the world in terms of drama, competition it is a direct result in the fall of standards of the better teams and the rise in quality of the smaller teams. There are 3 contenders for the top spot with 5/6 competing for 4th as well. The German league has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years with the rise of teams like Dortmund and Schalke 04 without the best team Bayern suffering a major drop in quality. The french league also after the dominance of Lyon is also getting left field winners such as Lille and Montpellier. The spanish league meanwhile has comfortably got the best 2 teams in the world it is such a boring league to watch beyond 2 games it all about how many barca and real will win by.
For what its worth, here are the current UEFA rankings. http://uk.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club/index.html I don't think there is any doubt that the top5 of your and their list are the main contenders for this years CL alongside dangerous outsiders like Porto, PSG, Shaktar, Dortmund and Arsenal. Also, I think your being harsh on the Spanish league. Real and Barca are arguably the 2 best teams in Europe and would probably dominate any league. There are some good teams as well as those two, as backed up by the performances in Europe of Athletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao last year and Malaga this.
It was a draw in the end. 2-2 Dortmund play the best football in Europe outside of Barca. IMO However.. Bayern are looking ridiculously efficient this Season and I fancy them to win the Bundesliga. The German league is getting back to where it used to be in terms of quality. It's also now the second most watched league in World Football. (after the EPL)
Although it isn't filled with as many star players and the teams are not exactly world reknowned either - The Dutch League is one of my favourites to watch. The games are exciting and fast paced and the focus is on attacking creativity more than defense. The fans are very pationate (ask an Ajax fan what beer he drinks) and the atmosphere is good. It definately deserves to be mentioned alongside the other top leagues when it comes to the enjoyment of watching.
The 2-2 was in Dortmund I thought, pretty sure they beat Madrid once though. Dortmund is prioritizing the Champions League this year, I imagine they want to raise their UEFA coefficient so they don't get grouped with City, Madrid, and Ajax again.
City are still comfortably better than United. Bayern are probably better than Dortmund though right now.
What do you mean by the best league, Spain has taken most the best of the premier league players in Ronaldo Alonso Fab Masc ect, only City and Chelsea are attracting top players. Barca and Real would finish ahead by a large gap in the English top flight most years, I'd say if they played there no one else would get a title for a long time. Also the goal scoring records would be smashed. Max points smashed. Barca or Real would mince almost every team in our precious league, Norwich Barca, can only end in 8 0 type games. A upper mid team destroyed the English champions of the previous year over 2 legs and gave them a footballing lesson that United still could not match even now. Chelsea opted out of playing football with as expensive a squad as their opponents, not a great prem ad, they did same in the final to a lesser extent, it won it for them but it was not great football. So again.. what do you mean by the best? We're culturally biased to prefer the premiership for obvious reasons, Bilbao fans don't find Bilbao Barca\Real games boring. Man U dominated the prem for longer, 1 team every year and Chelsea and City are criticised for their funded challenges and with the other face it's used as an indication of a better league.. makes me laugh that one.
You don't read much. I actually say Barca and Real are the best teams in the world comfortably. I also specifically state the best league TO WATCH NOT NECESSARILY THE BEST TEAMS. If i made this thread 15 years ago I would say we were a relatively boring league in comparism to others because arsenal and Man Utd dominated, but I am not am I. Competition in the EPL has been awesome recently not only for the top spot but 3/4 teams battle for 4th. Where as in spain in the last 2/3 years it is only how many barca or real will win by. The claim of money against Chelsea and City while fair then should be directed at Real Madrid and Barca as well over time the King of Spain has wiped out Reals debt on more than one occasion while Barca not only get preferential rates on debt but also have had loans wiped out by banks so that should be the same joke. Not to mention they get to sell TV rights individually so those two teams effectively screw over all the other spanish teams another form of financial doping. I am talking about the last few years not since the birth of man kind so stop using 15 years ago as an argument.
