Now that the group phase of the Champions League is over and the Last 16 pairings are known, English football fans are pinning their hopes on London duo Arsenal and Chelsea.
Manchester giants, City and United, both failed to progress and will continue their excursions in the Europa League after finishing third in their respective groups.
Arsenal and Chelsea qualified to the knock-out stage as group winners.
The last time fewer than two English clubs went through to the knock-out phase was in 2002-03 when Manchester United were ousted in the quarter-finals. The other three teams in the Champions League were Arsenal, Newcastle and Liverpool.
The possibility of having an English team in the Champions League final for the seventh time in eight years is still there but the chances are obviously less than in the past few seasons.
English teams in recent finals:
2005: Liverpool-Milan 3-3 (Reds won 3-2 on penalties) in Istanbul.
2006: Barcelona-Arsenal 2-1 in Paris.
2007: Milan-Liverpool 2-1 in Athens.
2008: Manchester United-Chelsea 1-1 (United won 6-5 on penalties) in Moscow.
2009: Barcelona-Manchester United 2-0 in Rome.
2011: Barcelona-Manchester United 3-1 in London.
This is the third time Manchester United have been eliminated from the Champions League before the start of the knock-out phase after their exits of 1994-95 and 2005-06. So, United became the first team to fall at the first group stage after reaching the previous season’s final.
It is estimated that the club will suffer a £20 million loss for not making the knock-out. United’s loss at Swiss side Basel was unexpected but the Red Devils have been blowing hot and cold this season and it seems there’re depending too much on the form of striker Wayne Rooney.
Another blow for United was the injury to Nemanja Vidic who is set to be out for several months.
Scottish midfielder Darren Fletcher has also been forced to take an extended break from the game for health reasons.
Roy Keane, the former United captain who is now working as TV pundit, had a go at Alex Ferguson recently when he remarked that the squad contains some youngsters who have yet to make the grade.
Despite their fine win over Bayern Munich, Manchester City were also ‘relegated’ to the Europa League. But manager Roberto Mancini still managed to put on a brave face and vowed that his side will go all out to win the competition.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Premier League this season kicked off early as the SFA adopted a new module to assist the preparations of the clubs involved in European qualifiers.
Yet, this change didn’t have the desired effect as Rangers were knocked out at the first time of asking, in the third qualifying round, after a 2-1 aggregate defeat to Malmo (0-1 at Ibrox and 1-1 away).