Spain setting semi-final standard
Monday, May 4, 2015
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UEFA.com looks at the UEFA Champions League history books to find which countries have the best semi-final pedigree, with Spain dominating the last four in recent years.
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There are familiar faces in this year's UEFA Champions League semi-finals as Real Madrid CF, FC Barcelona, FC Bayern München and Juventus contest a place in the Berlin final on 6 June – but which country has the best semi-final pedigree?
Going back to the 1993/94 season – there was no semi-final stage in 1992/93 when the two group winners went straight to the final – Spain have had the most representatives with 26 (29.5%) of the 88 semi-finalists. From then onwards, in only six of 22 UEFA Champions League campaigns have the Spanish not had a team reach the last four.
England have enjoyed the second-best representation with 20 out of 88 (22.7%). This term, however, is the ninth time in the last 22 editions they have not had a side in the last four.
Of the 88 semi-finalists, nine different national associations have been featured. In addition to Spain and England, Italy, Germany (both 14 teams), France (six), Netherlands (four), Portugal (two), Greece and Ukraine (both one) have all had clubs involved.
Curiously, Real Madrid, Bayern, Barcelona and Juventus have never previously made the semi-finals together in these 22 seasons. Equally, there have never been two Spanish sides, one German and one Italian together in the last four.
The last five campaigns emphasise Spain's dominance, with ten of the last 20 semi-finalists coming from the Liga. Six of the 20 since 2010/11 have been German, while England have had three standard-bearers. Juventus are the first Italian team to take on the penultimate hurdle since 2009/10, when FC Internazionale Milano proceeded to win the competition.
However, the statistics for Italian clubs reaching this stage and progressing to the final are impressive; of the 13 that have participated in the semis since 1993/94, no fewer than ten (76.9%) have advanced to the final.
Germany have produced eight finalists from 13 sides in the last four (61.5%), with Spain having 11 from 24 (45.8%) and England nine from 20 (45%). France have supplied six semi-finalists yet only one has made the final (16.7%); the Netherlands and Portugal both have a 50% success rate when their teams get to the last four.