@edd_jedi Celtic beat Barca, back when Barca were bloody good. Granted twas a fluke and they still didn't make the knock out stages but they did beat a very good Barca.
Agreed on the EL and the variety in it. I remember the old UEFA cup and what a great competition that was. There were so many sides who were evenly matched, it was quite hard to get a decent run in. Well, back when the PL sides had only been allowed back in to European comp for a few years (and the standard of the PL was dung). Then along came the money, both from PL TV rights and from UEFA giving more and more to the CL and more places in the CL to the big leagues. That has just exacerbated the discrepancies between countries. Back in the UEFA cup days a Russian side was a bloody tough draw, now PL sides cruise past them. And Russia is a big country, imagine how the small european nations feel. I heard someone say that they heard Celtic were after a player, no idea who, and he turned them down as he was offered more money by a league one side. League one. No chance Celtic, or any other 'smaller' european nation side can compete with that.
I agree a 'best teams of Europe league' would be 50% PL, probably four from Spain, Bayern, Dortmund, PSG, maybe 2 from Italy and one or two from Portugal. A Dutch side might sneak in, depending on how big the league was, but they would struggle.
The way European football is set up, it exacerbates the gulf in finances/class. More places for the big countries, means more chance of their sides going further, which means more money for them, which allows them to cherry pick the best players, which strengthens their coefficient, which means they continue to get more places (or not lose places) and the circle continues. Cherry picking the best players from the weaker leagues also allows them to strengthen their domestic league's appeal to TV companies as well as diminishing the attraction of the smaller countries' leagues and that makes it even worse.
There's no realistic way to fix it. It's gone on too long now and UEFA don't give a **** anyway. It's a shame. Albeit I would be more pissed if I supported a non PL side