Rio Ferdinand says lack of world class players in the Premier League is the reason for failure in Champions League
Premier League teams have fallen behind in the race for the Champions League title in the last few seasons and former Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand has now pin pointed the reason for Premier League clubs’ failure in the Champions League.
Ferdinand who played three Champions League finals winning it in 2008 said that he felt that the Premier League was the most entertaining league in the world but the loss of players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric has affected the teams on the continental stage.
“In those days we had teams that were conditioned to go into tournaments and go deep into tournaments,” said Ferdinand on BT Sport ahead of Manchester City's clash with Dynamo Kiev.
“[The] mentality was about just getting through the first period of the tournaments and taking each game as it comes.
“[In the Champions League] there's a consistency among these teams within the leagues they play in, they can go 20 games on a winning streak drawing a couple and maybe losing one
“I think back then the best players in the world, there were some in this country. At the moment there aren't any.”
Manchester City became only the 4th English team to qualify for the quarters of the Champions League since 2012 when they beat Dynamo Kiev 3-1 on aggergate last night.
Ferdinand – Aguero is the best player in the Premier League
Rio Ferdinand also said that Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero was the closest to a world class superstar in the Premier League. The former England international revealed his admiration for Aguero saying:
“I love Sergio Aguero. The last three or four years of my career in the Premier League he was the hardest striker I played against.
“He's quick, he's got a low centre of gravity, he's strong, he'll go off both sides - left or right, doesn't mind - and he's a devastating finisher when's he's in front of goal and I think he could play in any team in the world and he'll do this, he'll score goals.
“The difference with him is he's got different types of goals, he scores all different types of goals. I love him. I can't speak highly enough of him.”