By the way, as much as I hate this Arabian/Russian embargo on the football transfer market, it does help to build up the excitement. In the last glorious days of football (ending in about 2004 or so) there were so many superpower teams in Europe. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Deportivo, Juventus, Milan, Inter, Roma, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund were all candidates to win it all. In the next following year, the count of contenders started to fall and it saw a disturbance two years ago where everyone expected Barcelona or Real Madrid to win and it was all that was talked about regarding to European football. This financial juxtaposition of teams may be interpreted as an attack to the soul of the game, but it does help to create new superpower teams. I honestly have no idea who'll get the Champions League crown next year. Bayern München, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Paris Saint Germain are coming strong and a new candidate for superpowerness, Monaco is splashing the market.
And the most fun thing is, many people root against these financially strong teams, looking from a certain perspective to almost every big Champions League game they watch. That builds up the excitement. And every time, a modest team comes through and battles with the giants. I talked about the superpowers of season 2003-2004 and if you remember in that year the Champions League Final was played between two modest teams : FC Porto and AS Monaco. This year Borussia Dortmund made it to the final.
I'm excited about the new view European football is gaining.