Pique questions England´s CL flop

  Barcelona’s Gerard Pique says the Premier League must make changes following the failure of English teams in the Champions League.

For the first time since 1996 there are no sides from England in the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier club competition, with Manchester United and Arsenal both failing to win ties against Real Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively in the last 16.

Pique pointed out that the Premier League’s elite clubs “get punished” over the relatively equitable split of television revenue, compared to the monopoly Barca and Real Madrid enjoy in La Liga.

“Maybe English football needs to rethink about themselves,” the Spain international told The Daily Telegraph.

“They have gone from having three teams in the semis to now, none in the quarters.

The Premier League gets punished in relation to La Liga as the television money is more evenly distributed in England, but does that explain the difference with Madrid and Barcelona? Not totally perhaps. People say the league is more equal than La Liga but nonetheless United are 12 points clear of second place.”

Asked whether it is a matter of the coaching methods being applied in English football, Pique said: “Maybe it is a coaching situation. I don’t know. There is another way of looking at it, every club has to look at their reality.