I can’t stress this enough: nobody is denying the glory of Aston Villa in Istanbul or Crystal Palace in Leipzig. They represented a first trophy in 30 years and a first ever European trophy respectively. They were heady nights, celebrated in hot foreign capital cities and in pubs and lounges back home. These are the big ones.
And on such evenings, nobody is expecting any partisan supporter to dwell for even a second on the systemic advantages that made their run possible. Anyone who supports Palace or Villa who thinks “Yes this was fun but actually the entire game is weighted towards this happening” is probably not fun at parties.
Both clubs would – rightly – point out that they are used to banging their head against their own glass ceilings. Villa have been limited by profitability and sustainability rules designed to curb financial implosion with a subsidiary impact of ringfencing the established financial elite. Palace have finished between 10th and 15th for 13 seasons in a row.
Still, this is a thing. There is growing unease about the potential domination of English clubs over European football’s second and third competitions. And there’s still Arsenal to come in the Champions League final…
