As Real Madrid show, England has the glamour but Spain has the glory

The clubs of the Premier League are awash in cash and visibility compared to their Spanish rivals – but in the trophy-winning department it's still no contest, writes Andy Mitten.

Real Madrid hoist the European Cup after beating Atletico Madrid in the 2014 Champions League final. Javier Soriano / AFP / May 24, 2014

Real Madrid's victory over Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final was the 17th time that a Spanish side has triumphed over an English Premier League team in the last 18 meetings.

Villarreal hope to make that statistic even starker on Thursday evening as they seek to hold their 1-0 advantage over Liverpool at Anfield and progress to their first ever major final.

In the other Europa League semi-final, holders Sevilla are favourites to overcome Shakhtar Donetsk. This month could be the first time that the European finals are comprised entirely of Spanish clubs, though it has been coming.

Spanish sides are, by a distance, the best in European football.

In the past 48 matches against non-La Liga teams, Spanish sides have been victorious in 45 of them. The European Cup final in Milan at the end of this month will be contested between both Madrid giants for the second time in three years.

On one level, it adds up. Only Manchester attracts more football fans to watch their big two than any two-team football city in the world, but Manchester hasn't had a team in a European final since United lost to Barcelona in 2011.

London has only had one team, Chelsea, in a European final. Since 2011 Spain has had 14 teams in the Champions League, Europa League and Uefa Super Cups finals. In the past decade, Spanish teams have won five of the 10 European Cups, with no team winning more than Barca's four.

• Read more: From crisis to cup finalists: Real Madrid's revival continues under 'humble' Zinedine Zidane

• Also see: Gareth Bale and Real Madrid power past Manchester City into 14th European Cup final – in pictures

Another Spanish team will lift it this year, with Real Madrid going for their record 11th win and Atletico a first. In the Europa League, no team can come close to Sevilla's four titles in the past decade. Two of those wins came in all Spanish finals, just like the 2016 version could be. Spanish teams have also won six of the past seven Super Cups.

Judged on a number of factors, La Liga and the Premier League are the best two leagues in the world. City manager, Manuel Pellegrini, a man who has worked in both, was fair when he said this week: “I’ve always said that the best league in the world is the Premier League, for various reasons: the fans, the organisation. But the best football is played in Spain. It’s not by sheer chance that Sevilla have won two Europa Leagues and Spanish teams in general make the final [of the Champions League]. The Spanish game is very technical and the teams play well. The best football is played here.”

It’s why the English teams try to plunder the best Spanish personnel, on and off the field.

Several of Manchester City’s leading officials came from Barcelona, while the increased wealth in England means that relatively small English clubs can pluck talent from far bigger Spanish clubs. Swansea City took Sevilla’s goalkeeping coach after he helped mastermind a 2014 Europa League penalty victory over Benfica. He moved back to Sevilla after a season. If Sevilla does have an advantage over England, it’s better weather and lifestyle.

Money is usually the most important factor in football and every Spanish club is nervous about the increasing might of the English Premier League.

One Barca director recently told this writer: “The English language helps the Premier League become more popular, in the United States and in Asia where it is more widely spoken.”

The same man bemoaned that Barca, the European and world champions “have world-class players like Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets who could walk through Piccadilly Circus in London and not be recognised.”

For him it was a question of marketing demographics, but the Premier League is often seen as more competitive and exciting than La Liga, where games wind down after an hour if one team is leading by two goals.

An increasingly cost conscious Barca are worried that the big English teams will not only match their best offers, but easily beat them, while Spanish clubs have achieved their success while reducing their overall tax debts from €643 million (Dh2.7 billion) in 2012 to €238 million now.

It’s not only money which leads to a reverence from many Spanish players towards the Premier League.

“The atmosphere is different, the mentality different from the Latin one here,” says Xavi. “The Anglo Saxons respect the footballer. It’s a respected profession. In Spain, it’s not respected. The people say: ‘You live too well, you earn too much money, you don’t work’. That’s not true.”

The Spanish players who have moved to England are largely happy. Just don’t expect them to be in sides challenging for the top trophies.

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