Do You Have A Flag?

If you are from Spain it is flying at half-mast.

If you are from Italy the answer is no.

Tonight the English Premier League confirmed once again that it is the dominant league in the world.  Serie A and La Liga have a huge distance to make up.  

Do not let the Barcelona result at Camp Nou over French champion Lyon fool you.  The Catalan club is the best of an average bunch.  Real Madrid were thrashed by the "Red Hurricane" at Anfield while Atletico Madrid could not get past Porto.  Only Villareal will go forward along with Barca to the quarterfinal draw.  

And every team will be hoping they draw the Yellow Submarines.

Inter Milan were outclassed over two legs against Manchester United.  The gulf in talent was so obvious that Jose Mourinho must have been toasting Sir Alex after the match for not drubbing them by 5 or 6 goals.  The supposed "best player in the world" Zlatan Ibrahimovic was invisible.  The Inter defense were in shambles for most of the match as Ryan Giggs ran through them.  Not Ronaldo or Rooney - both were excellent as well - but the 36 year old Giggs!

Chelsea are reborn under Guus Hiddink and Juventus looked a side that knew it was a matter of time before the wheels came off.  Even when Del Piero netted the penalty you never believed Juve were going to pull it off.  Chelsea looked like the squad of a few years ago when they could just turn on the championship form whenever it was needed.  They did so again on Tuesday and earned their spot.

Finally, Arsenal knocked off Roma in Rome on penalties.  Vein of Form felt the most likely of the English sides to go would be Arsenal.   This was an even match-up.  Both sides in a fight to qualify for next season's Champions League right now and not a great deal between them after the first leg.  But the English came through again when needed.  

And there is the difference.  When the English clubs saw the moment called for a bit of greatness they were capable of rising to the occasion.  The Italian clubs could not.  They wilted under the pressure and it was evident they don't have the talent or the coaching to overcome the Big 4 from England.

Detractors will say the Champions League is boring.  I think the best football teams on the planet are still in the competition so it is anything but boring.

Throw in Bayern Munich, Porto and Barcelona and you have a very interesting mix.  Even Villareal could surprise someone in the quarters.  We just don't know who will be healthy when the next matches kick off.

We do know that after tonight no one can doubt where the best football in Europe is being played.