Hopefully this will answer that: http://www.footballistically.co.uk/...al-european-league-tables-2526-february-2012/
Athletico Madrid and Valencia were always handy teams, Villarreal weren't that bad a few years ago Bilbao, Deportivo La Coruna were always historically quite big clubs. I agree to some extend there league has turned into a skillful version of the SPL.
Valencia have just beaten Stoke in the Europa. And to be fair our Prem had been a three horse race for the last 10-12 years. Only ManC are threatening that. I don't think Spurs can really be taken as serious contenders just yet. So this year its turning into a two horse race.