Spain continues to dominate England after 400 matches in European competitions

I t was only the first episode of the round of 16 , but the first leg matches between teams from Spain and England reinforced the superiority of the Spaniards in direct duels in the history of European cups, a rivalry that reached 400 matches with the duel between Real Madrid and Manchester City and in which the thrashings of Atletico and Madrid also served to take a narrow lead in terms of goals scored, until Wednesday in favor of the English.

If only the three major traditional competitions (European Cup, the now defunct Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Europa League) are taken into account, the situation is one of absolute balance, with 133 wins for each. In a disastrous day for the Premier League representatives, Spain recorded two wins and a draw for a balance of 152 wins and 105 draws, compared to 143 Anglo-Saxon victories. Of the 1,081 goals, the Spaniards lead by the narrowest of margins: 541 to 540, with Real Madrid just one short of a century, a figure surpassed only by Barcelona (166) and Manchester United (102). Atletico reached 50 with their five goals against Tottenham, a figure that the Spaniards had only achieved once (Liverpool 2-5 Real Madrid) in this century.

Although this time they did not win and were lucky to salvage a draw, Barcelona are the terror of the English with 44 victories, compared to 27 for Real Madrid, while Manchester United (25) and Liverpool (24) are the most successful. By competition, Spain have also turned around their dominance in the European Cup, where they now lead by one victory (83-82) and six goals (310-304). In the now defunct Cup Winners' Cup England finished with a 13-12 advantage in games won and in the UEFA Europa League they have taken 38 victories each to date.

Beyond that, in the Conference League, Chelsea won the only duel against Betis in last season's final, while in the Fairs Cup Spain won by 15 victories to nine and in the also defunct Intertoto Cup by four to nil.