PARIS (AFP) - Is English club football the best in the world? That was the debate in highly respected French sports newspaper L'Equipe on Tuesday, sparked by a pair of excuses from the bosses of underachieving teams.Chelsea's Jose Mourinho lamented his lack of fit centre-halfs in excusing his side's 2-0 defeat at Liverpool on Saturday before suggesting it would be easier to win the Champions League than the Premiership in his predicament.
"Maybe in the Champions League you can play without central defenders when you are up against fast players with movement," he said. "In the Premiership it is impossible when you have a tall target man and people used to playing with their back to goal."
And Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, whose side dramatically toppled league leader's Manchester United on Sunday with an injury-time winner, pointed to the performance of English teams in European competition groups stages this season as he tried to explain away the 12-point gap between his team and the top of the table.
Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool all topped their Champions League groups while Blackburn, Tottenham and Bolton achieved likewise in the UEFA Cup. "That shows you how hard it is to win in England," complained Wenger.
But while L'Equipe accepts that the English league is unsurpassed for entertainment and riches, it questioned England's claim to have the best league. "The Premiership is very, very rich, the football is spectacular, as shown by Manchester United and Arsenal these last few weeks," said L'Equipe.
"It's spectacular but that's about as far as it goes."
It points out that while England produced the Champions League winners in 2005 (Liverpool) and finalists in both last season's European tournaments - Arsenal in the Champions League and Middlesbrough in the UEFA Cup - English club's success in Europe since being allowed back into the competitions in 1990-91 have been left in the shade by Spain and Italy.
Spain have won five Champions League crowns and Italy three while England sits joint third with Germany on two. Italy have won 11 European trophies in that period, with Spain claiming nine and England again in third on six - helped largely by three victories in the now defunct and previously derided Cup Winners' Cup.
England also sits only third in UEFA club rankings with 63.486 points compared to Italy's 66.731 and Spain's 72.748 - although the top three are well clear of the rest, headed by France and Germany.
"Is the Premiership an irresistible seducer? Certainly. A model? That's not so sure," concludes L'Equipe.
