Last week, Barcelona manager Xavi suggested that the gap between the Premier League and La Liga was not as great as some have claimed.
That was after Real Madrid had come from behind to beat defending champions Chelsea in the Champions League and Atlético Madrid had pushed Manchester City all the way in their bad-tempered tie (UEFA are set to investigate the heated clash on the pitch towards the end of the game and the various incidents that happened in the tunnel after the match).
However, the line-ups for the semi-finals of the three European competitions, suggests that the Premier League retains its pre-eminence.
It is true that in the Champions League England and Spain will have two representatives in the last four. City and Real will be joined by Liverpool and this season’s surprise package Villarreal, who ended Bayern Munich’s interest in the competition.
However, when it comes to the other competitions, Barcelona’s defeat at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday night means that Spanish involvement in the Europa League is over for another year. They had no team in the latter stages of the inaugural Europa Conference League.
Instead, Frankfurt have been joined by RB Leipzig as flying the flag for Germany in the competition. Joining them is West Ham United, who, having drawn the first leg in East London, stunned their hosts Lyon with a comprehensive victory in the return fixture in France.
And joining those three in the last four is Scottish club Rangers, who ended the involvement of the last Portuguese team left in Europe Sporting Braga.
Italy once boasted the strongest league in Europe, but their sole remaining representative is Roma in the Conference League and Ligue I, the other one that claims to be among the top leagues in Europe, will have to make do with Marseille in the same competition.
Feyenoord at least ensure that there is still one Dutch team left, but their Eredivisie rivals. PSV Eindhoven, were beaten by Leicester City, a tea currently only ninth in the Premier League.
It means that, in terms of national representation the remaining semi-finals breakdown as England four, Spain two, Germany two, and the others four.
That suggests the Premier League remains pre-eminent in terms of strength.