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Europe to rally against Spanish dominance


Champions League football kicks off again on Tuesday night and 28 of the 32 teams involved have one common objective: to put an end to the Spanish dominance.

LaLiga has had a monopoly on European success over the past few seasons, having produced half of the Champions League semi-finalists in the past five seasons, half of the finalists in that time, and the past three winners.

Spooling back to consider the previous decade, the Iberian Peninsula nation's dominance was not quite as complete, but it is true that half of the past ten winners have been Spanish.

That's not to mention the success of Sevilla in the Europa League, a team which qualifies for the premier tournament this campaign, having defeated Liverpool in last season's Europa League final.

As such, there are four Spanish teams in the group stages - although there could have been five had Villarreal won their play-off qualifier with Monaco.

The Yellow Submarine miss out, along with other historic names such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Inter and AC Milan, while the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur and Celtic return.

Ultimately, however, there are only seven clear contenders for next May's glory: Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico will be looking to bring the trophy back to Spain, while Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Juventus are also in the mix.

From Tuesday onwards we'll see if the rest of Europe can prize the trophy away from Spanish football's tight grasp, as we saw happen several times in MARCA's look back at the 25 greatest Champions League moments./ShikoNews

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