Aston Villa and Crystal Palace’s runs to European finals are historic achievements, but symptomatic of a worrying trend
T
here will be no doubting Unai Emery’s supremacy in the Europa League if he is reacquainted with the trophy in Istanbul this month. A fifth title would add to the Aston Villa manager’s legend and it would show he can do it with an English club. The latter achievement, though, may be diminished in value. A greater concern lies in the way that Premier League clubs, gradually but discernibly, are dominating Europe’s smaller competitions in a way Uefa surely could never have intended.
Villa will be the eighth English finalists from the last 22 teams to reach the Europa League’s showpiece. Should they win, it would be the first time since the first two years of the Uefa Cup, its predecessor with the same trophy, that sides from England have won the secondary tournament in consecutive seasons. They would build on Tottenham’s haphazard triumph of last May and while neither consistency nor relative excellence should be sniffed at their progress contributes to a concerning broader trend.
In south-east London on Thursday night, a jubilant Dean Henderson said Crystal Palace “need to get back what we deserve”. It was a reminder they felt affronted to be in the Conference League after losing their appeal against demotion from the Europa League. Nonetheless, after lurching through the early stages with the cavalry sometimes held back, once the business end arose Palace were simply too good. Fiorentina and Shakhtar Donetsk, clubs with rich European pedigree, battled gamely, but neither came especially close to holding them off.
