On Tuesday night Sergio Ramos, one of the most consistent and strongest defenders in the World, was simply shoulder barged by Antoine Griezmann.

The silver haired forward left Ramos stranded on the floor as he busted past him with utterly brilliant speed. A move which reminded me of famous forwards in England, strong and quick. Forwards like Alan Shearer, Ruud van Nistlerooy, Thierry Henry.

English clubs, formerly owners of these fantastic attackers, bowed out of European competitions with no style at all - more with a sense that they are no longer European superpowers.

How contrasting it is to the mid-2000s to the early 2010s. Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea all won the Champions League between 2005 and 2012 while Liverpool reached a second final, and United a further two. Arsenal also lost out to Barcelona - just like United - in 2006, in the final.

Now no English clubs are in the Champions League quarter-finals of which players like Griezmann and Karim Benzema, on the opposite side of the Madrid derby, are ripping up. Between the two Frenchman in the ever-so weedy Spanish league, as so often described by the pretentious English media - they have scored 8 goals in the Champions League this season, and 33 in La Liga.

Benzema celebrates scoring for Real Madrid

It gets you thinking that maybe, the constant, yet quite obviously ridiculous ideology that any one playing for an English side is far stronger and more aggressive than those in Spain because Barcelona like to pass the ball instead of hoof it up to Andy Carroll, may just be wrong.

These two Frenchman playing for two of Spain's best teams, two weedy teams, can be compared to two forwards playing for two of England's best teams, the strong and mighty.

Eden Hazard has become well known for his ability to stand up to the rough and tumble of the Premier League. Yet his record of defensive duties in the Champions League doesn't match that of Benzema - despite Benzema playing further forward. Hazard makes just 0.3 tackles per game in the Champions League compared to 0.6, that means Hazard made only 3 tackles in his 654 minute of European football this season.

Taking the traditional beefy Englishman in James Milner, even he compared to Antoine Griezmann trumps by just a small amount. Grizemann makes (on average) 1.7 tackles per game in the Champions League, the same as Milner in the Premier and just 0.3 per game below Milner in Europe.

This is just once small stat, one needle in a giant hay stack at WhoScored, that delves into the similarities between the mighty, aggressive English league and players, and the weedy, tiki taka Spanish league and players.

There is, in fact, no difference between the two types of players, each player across Europe could now play in both England and Spain, or Spain and Italy or Germany and France. The traditional cultural difference that was formed between the formation of a competition for Europe's top sides and the beginning of the 2000s has vanished into the abyss of football's history. English clubs must look at players like Griezmann and Benzema, who they would like to buy for their own club, and realise that to beat teams who, just like them, have multiple strong players in their side they need to play just like they do in the Premier League - not like precarious clubs delving into the competition of which everyone plays a different game called football.

Ramos challenges Greizmann on Tuesday night
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About the author
Harry Robinson
Deputy Editor-in-Chief at VAVEL UK, and Manchester United Editor.