MEAT LOAF and the power of the Premier League — they may not seem the most obvious of bedfellows — but they are.
Meat Loaf famously sang Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad but the Prem can beat that, with five out of six.
English top-flight clubs have swarmed all over their European opponents like a Bat Out of Hell this season, taking five of the top eight slots in the Champions League.
Elite sides in Europe have been batted aside by the force of nature that is the Premier League, with Arsenal topping the league-stage table with eight wins out of eight.
Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Manchester City joined the Gunners straight into the last 16 of Europe’s top trophy.
Newcastle, who finished 12th in the table courtesy of their 1-1 draw at champions Paris Saint-Germain, need to negotiate a way through the play-offs against Qarabag.
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Never before has a nation had six sides in the last 16 but it could very well happen this time.
It is a remarkable picture of potency and confirms the Premier League as the dominant force in world football.
The fact Spurs finished fourth in the Champions League table but are 14th in their domestic league tells its own story.
Say what you like about the new Champions League format — and many have — it has been a hit with some supporters and plenty of TV broadcasters.
Certainly the fact that going into the last round of matches on Wednesday night 32 out of the 36 teams were still in with a chance of making the all-important top 24 means it keeps things interesting.
Is it better than the old system? More games equals more money.
There has been concern expressed that the expanded version has had a detrimental effect on domestic competitions but the Prem seems to be doing extremely well.
I accept the fact six English clubs qualifying hardly suggests champions are all taking part but this new format seems here to stay.
Detractors of the new system point out there have been plenty of empty seats for recent matches this season.
Tottenham have averaged 51,079, Manchester City 46,474 and Chelsea 36,920, all well below their capacities.
My advice to Uefa is, don’t dilute this tournament anymore.
So why have our clubs dominated Europe this season?
In a nutshell, as Del Boy would put it, wonga . . . readies . . . dosh.
Six Premier League sides are inside the Deloitte Football Money League top ten, while half of the top 30 come from our top flight.
Premier League TV rights dwarf those of other countries and in last summer’s transfer window our clubs spent more than £3BILLION.
To put that into context, Premier League sides forked out more in the summer window than all the clubs in the Bundesliga, LaLiga, Ligue 1 and Serie A COMBINED.
Mind you, of the six English sides left in the competition only Liverpool (6), Chelsea (2) and City (1) have ever been champions of Europe and their combined successes, nine, is well below Real Madrid’s record 15 titles.
But the shift in power is very evident and I’ll be surprised if one of the English six does not lift the trophy at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on May 30.
By then the new format, brought in last season, will mean the winners could have played up to 17 matches.
It is all a far cry from the first European Cup, the forerunner of the Champions League, in 1955.
Guess how many English teams competed then? None.
English champions Chelsea were forced to withdraw from Europe by the Football League, who said it would be a distraction from domestic football.
The times have definitely changed.
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