French influence still being felt

By Adam Szreter

The final lineup for this year's UEFA Champions League quarter-finals will be determined this week, when FC Internazionale Milano meet the holders FC Porto, with Inter favourites to become the third Italian team to qualify.

Heavy influence
There are two English clubs, one each from Germany and the Netherlands, and one only this time - compared to two last season - from France. But a more detailed look at the national characteristics of all the squads involved reveals the influence France is still having on European football as a whole.

French pride
Five years on from their last triumph at national level, and still awaiting a first Champions League success, France, with only Olympique Lyonnais qualified, can nevertheless point with some pride to the fact that no fewer than 32 of their players will be eligible to play in next month's quarter-finals. This is a figure Italy would surpass by only one, even if Inter get through to join Juventus FC and AC Milan.

Considerable clout
Inter, ironically, would be one of just two clubs – PSV Eindhoven are the other – with no French connection in their ranks, but others such as FC Bayern München, with Bixente Lizarazu and Willy Sagnol; Juventus with Lilian Thuram and David Trezeguet; and Chelsea FC with William Gallas and Claude Makelele, have French players of considerable clout.

England and Argentina
England, with two sides through, can count only 16 players qualified for their own national team. Brazil are still strong, yet as things stand, Milan's Hernán Crespo and Bayern's Martin Demichelis will carry the flag between them for Argentina, traditionally strong exporters of talent, unless their countrymen from Inter can join them. Inter have just seven Italians among their Champions League number.

Strength in depth
It is nearly ten years since a major European power other than France won either of the two most important national team trophies, the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship. And although France have fallen below their recent high standards at the last two major tournaments, with the kind of strength in depth they appear to have all over the continent it would take a brave man to bet against them coming good again, and sooner rather than later.

Regular starters
England's search for a second major international honour has been going on for almost 40 years, and a brief glance at the English players left competing at the highest club level this season does not make for encouraging reading. Only seven of the 16 could be described as regular starters, while another four are reserve goalkeepers.

Tough job
Germany's sole representatives, Bayern, have a healthy native contingent in their squad, yet only three of them started the game this week against Arsenal FC, and only two other Germans remain in the competition. Spanish players have a similarly tough job getting into their own leading club sides, while the four-strong Liverpool FC contingent are Spain's only Champions League survivors.

Home-grown players
Of course, none of this will matter to the fans of whichever team carries off the European Champion Clubs' Cup in Istanbul on 25 May, but a year later those same supporters may be singing a different song if their national team fails once again at the World Cup in Germany. At international level, where big-money transfers cannot ride to the rescue, there is no alternative to homegrown talent, wherever this talent eventually chooses to ply its trade; and as long as France continue to produce the players, they will be a force to be reckoned with every two years.