When the draws were set, all the talk was about the seemingly inevitable Champions League final between Real Madrid and Barcelona, another installment of the El Clasico but with the greatest stakes in Europe on the line (For my hockey followers, imagine Colorado vs Detroit at its Claude Lemieux prime, and then play the game in front of 90,000 fans).
Well having watched Bayern Munich handily dismantle my Gunners in the quarter finals, I wasn't so sure. I thought they looked like one of the strongest teams I had seen in a long while. Then I watched Borussia Dortmund play for the first time this season - They looked as good if not better.
While I believe that the Barclay's Premier League is the strongest overall league in the world, Real Madrid and Barcelona were arguably the two strongest club teams over the past few years. The Bundesliga is also top-heavy, but seeing the way the two German teams tore apart the top two Spanish teams in the first leg by a combined 8-1 score, I wonder, has the Bundesliga surpassed La Liga in quality?
You have to go back six years to find the last time Barcelona lost by a 4 goal margin in any competition (May 10, 2007 to Getafe, also 4-0). Meanwhile Dortmund hung on and scraped by a strong pushback from Real Madrid in the second leg and advance to the Champions League final. Looking at how young this squad is, it is possible that they could become a powerhouse if the team can afford to keep the emerging stars such as Hummels, Lewandowski, Gundogan, and Reus, having already lost Gotze to their German rivals (starting next season). The reported 37 million euros for that transfer will be a good start.
If any team can bounce back from a 4-0 deficit, it is Barcelona, but failing that we seem poised to see the first ever all-German Champions League final. Looks like the other leagues have some work to do.
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