The Premier League has never been this good

English football has had its ups and downs, but this is definitely a high.

I remember feeling something in 2015.

Luis Enrique’s Barcelona were facing Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich. Barcelona at that time were flying with a front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez, surely the greatest forward line club football has ever seen. Bayern, meanwhile, were rewriting certain rules of what a Guardiola side should be, combining his positional play model with some more stereotypically German ideas. Guardiola, as usual, sprung a surprise. Bayern aggressively man-marked Barcelona for the first fifteen minutes or so before changing course. Barca won the game 3-0 in the end, but for 75 minutes this was a tense and delicate contest with both sides showing their breathtaking levels.

I remember sitting there and thinking: “there’s nothing in the Premier League anywhere near this good”. These were complete teams, with some of the world’s best players uniting behind a clear tactical idea. English clubs at that time largely just relied on individual quality to mask collective shortcomings.