Champions League

Diego Simeone "surprised" by failure of English clubs in Europe

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 21 April 2015

Diego Simeone insists that Chelsea are "so far ahead of everyone else" in English football, despite their failure to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.

Diego Simeone has claimed that the lack of English teams reaching the latter stages of the Champions League in recent years should act as a real "wake-up call for the Premier League".

Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea each failed to make it beyond the last-16 stage in this season's competition, while the record was just as bleak in 2012-13.

The Atletico Madrid boss, whose side are in with a chance of reaching the semi-finals following a goalless first leg against rivals Real Madrid, claims that Chelsea are the best placed English team to achieve future success.

"I am surprised there are no English clubs left in the Champions League – English football has enormous potential with its footballers and also its financial clout," he told Goal.com.

"The fact that there is no English team left in the last eight of the Champions League or in the Europa League is a wake-up call for the Premier League to look at why it is that, despite their great economic power and with all the many great footballers playing in England, Chelsea are so far ahead of everyone else and why they have no teams left in Europe."

Chelsea crashed out of the competition on away goals against Paris Saint-Germain last month, while Arsenal and Man City lost against Monaco and Barcelona respectively.