The superiority of Spanish clubs over English in European finals

European soccer is known for having four major leagues: Spanish, Italian, English and German . Although there are other local tournaments in the continent, it is the clubs from these countries that year after year compete hard to try to be crowned monarchs of the Champions League or Europa League. Precisely, during the last 15 years, both LaLiga and the Premier League have monopolized the majority of the finals of those competitions, resulting in extensive dominance by those of Spain.

With the recently finalized edition of the Europa League, Villarreal entered the list as the fifth Spanish club to win the competition . But the surprise is not there, in addition to adding the thirteenth trophy to their country and second in a row, they also beat another English club. If we count, of the five finals between teams from these two countries, only one ended in the hands of the English: Liverpool's 5-4 against Deportivo Alavés in 2000/01 .

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Likewise, the contest for the most desired trophy in Europe has a similar story. The Champions League has been dominated 18 times by Spaniards, while the representatives of England have done so 13. When we went to the clashes between clubs from these countries, out of five finals only one was conquered by an English team: in the 1980/81 season when Liverpool won 1-0 against Real Madrid.

However, when we carry these duels to the European Super Cup, we see the most even statistics. In six finals the trophy has been divided into three victories per side: Nottingham Forest (1979), Aston Villa (1992) and Chelsea (1998) reaffirmed the power of the English, a scenario that totally changed in recent years. Given that, we decided to bring you an account of what happened from 2006 to the present.

Sevilla 4-0 Middlesbrough | UEFA Cup 2006

Everything started here, when the Europa League was still called the UEFA Cup and Sevilla was not yet the king of the tournament. Full of enthusiasm for their first continental final, the Andalusians displayed the best possible soccer to lift the title thanks to goals from Luis Fabiano, Maresca (2) and Kanouté .

Barcelona 2-1 Arsenal | Champions League 2006

Days after the final of the UEFA Cup, in the Champions League there was also a duel between Spanish and English representatives. Arsenal arrived after eliminating Real Madrid and Villarreal, so they wanted to continue the series. However, Eto'o and Belletti responded to Campbell's goal to avoid it and give the Catalans the title.

Barcelona 2-0 Manchester United | Champions League 2009

Sir Alex Ferguson's experience versus Pep Guardiola's intelligence. The best Barcelona in history began in these years and they demonstrated it in the final, with exquisite soccer and goals from Eto'o and Messi.

Atlético de Madrid 2-1 Fulham | Europa League 2010

Here began the new red-and-white era. It was the first final in that tournament for Atleti and it was not out of tune. In the end, the figure was the Uruguayan Diego Forlán, who scored a double . Davies had evened the score to force extra time.

Barcelona 3-1 Manchester United | Champions League 2011

Again the red devils and the Catalans saw each other and on the same stage, showing that they were the best teams on the continent that year. The script was the same: absolute dominance of the Catalans . Pedro, Messi and Villa scored for the Spanish, while Rooney did it for the English club.

Atlético de Madrid 4-1 Chelsea | European Super Cup 2012

By now Diego Simeone's team was already beginning to give their warnings that they were ready to conquer Europe , and they did. With a hattrick from Falcao and a goal from Miranda they got the Trophy. Cahill had discounted for the blues .

Sevilla 3-1 Liverpool | Europa League 2016

The Andalusian team has been the absolute owner of this contest, without a doubt. In this edition they had to come from behind to get up from Sturridge's goal, which they did thanks to Gameiro and a double from Coke.

Real Madrid 2-1 Manchester United | European Super Cup 2017

The power of Madrid in this decade also extended to the Super Cup. There they beat Manchester in a highly contested match. Casemiro and Isco placed the Spanish goals , while Lukaku did the same for the Englishmen.

Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool | Champions League 2018

The merengue team achieved the Orejona for the third time in a row, this time against Liverpool . In an electrifying duel, Benzema and a double from Gareth Bale gave the victory to Zidane's men. Mané had scored for the Reds.

Villarreal 1 (11) – 1 (10) Manchester United | Europa League 2021

The most recent final between the Spanish and the English. Gerard Moreno had overtaken the yellow submarine, but Cavani equalized for the Red Devils. Parity led them to penalties where Manchester's Spanish goalkeeper missed the last execution.