THE timing could hardly have been more apt. On Sunday, Chelsea secured their fourth Premier League title with a polished yet typically perfunctory 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Resolute and supremely well organised, but largely bereft of ebullience or flair, Jose Mourinho’s side ground out the result that confirmed their superiority over the rest of the teams in the top-flight. In truth, it had never been in doubt all campaign.

Three days later, in the Nou Camp, Barcelona locked horns with Bayern Munich in a Champions League semi-final that could hardly have been more different to the game at Stamford Bridge. Bristling with pace and intensity from the outset, the two sides served up a feast of exuberant, attacking football.

Bayern had their moments, and Robert Lewandowski should have scored before the break after Thomas Muller delivered a sensational cross into the box. But in the space of 13 scintillating second-half minutes, Barcelona effectively booked their place in the final with a passage of play that was almost other-worldly in terms of its quality.

Predictably, the utterly incomparable Lionel Messi was to the fore, but in Neymar, Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta and Dani Alves, the Spanish league leaders possessed other players capable of reaching a level that is an impossible dream for just about every other player in the world. And certainly, on all available evidence this season, that is out of reach for anyone plying their trade in the Premier League.

The night before Barcelona’s master class, Juventus and Real Madrid met in another Champions League tie that was brimming with masterful ability. Again, it is hard not to compare and contrast that game with the best that the English top-flight has mustered this season. Rarely, if ever, can the boast that the Premier League is “the best league in the world” have felt so vacuous and misguided.

The brutal reality is that the Premier League increasingly resembles the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes. Tell enough people that it is a thing of incomparable beauty, and perhaps they will go along with the myth. Start looking behind the facade, though, and the illusion is quickly exposed.

This has been as poor a Premier League season as I can remember, with the leading sides unable to compete with the best teams in Europe and the general standard markedly inferior to the overall levels apparent in La Liga and the Bundesliga, and potentially even Serie A.

‘Ah, but the best thing about English football is that anybody can beat anybody’, might be the retort. That’s true, and it certainly lends the Premier League an unpredictability that is one of its greatest selling points. But competitiveness should not be confused with quality. If Burnley are capable of beating Manchester City, what does that really say about the second-best team in the country?

Chelsea are largely immune from criticism because they have achieved what they set out to do at the start of the season and won the title at a canter. Accusations of being ‘boring’ or ‘negative’ are an irrelevance when it comes to discussing the domestic title race. Chelsea’s challenge was to win more points than their rivals, and they did it because they developed a style of play that no one was able to counteract.

The huge blot on Jose Mourinho’s copybook, however, was the Champions League last-16 defeat to Paris St Germain, a team whose collective failings were brutally exposed by Barcelona when the two sides met in the quarter-finals.

Chelsea’s shape, organisation and ability to exert a grinding pressure in the final third has been sufficient to make them comfortably superior to their domestic rivals, but it was insufficient to see off Paris St Germain at Stamford Bridge, even though the French side were forced to play for almost an hour-and-a-half with ten men once a full period of extra-time is taken into account.

When Chelsea’s players needed to step up to the next level – the one that separates the great sides from the simply very good – they were unable to make the progression. As a result, they can justifiably be described as ‘flat-track bullies’, routinely beating up opponents who offer little or no meaningful resistance.

Of course, that says much about the failings of the other supposedly ‘top teams’ in England, and once the dust settles at the end of the season, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool will all have some serious soul-searching to do.

The fact that none were able to make the last eight in Europe speaks volumes for where they currently find themselves, and the fact that English clubs’ European exile was repeated in the Europa League – where the next rank of sides were found wanting when posited against similarly-sized teams from right across the continent – is just as alarming.

Manchester City have been unforgivably poor given the amount of money they have spent over the last two or three years, and while those in charge at the Etihad can point to the league titles of 2012 and 2014 as proof of the success of their project, the feeling remains that they have assembled a squad of individuals rather than a team.

And while the extent of the club’s spending has been eye-watering, they continue to struggle to attract truly world-class talent. Sergio Aguero clearly fits into that category, but could you really imagine Stevan Jovetic or Wilfried Bony – strikers who cost a combined fee of £50m – lining up for any of the current Champions League semi-finalists?

Arsenal remain as frustrating as ever – sporadically brilliant, but with fundamental flaws in their squad that have not been addressed for the best part of a decade. Arsene Wenger might regard a second successive FA Cup win as a triumph, but if that is the extent of Arsenal’s ambition, their claims to be a European superpower are even shallower than ever.

Manchester United have been in a state of chaos for much of the campaign, so the fact they currently sit fourth says much about the inadequacies of the teams below them, and after challenging for the title last season, Liverpool have gone backwards at a rapid rate under Brendan Rodgers.

As a result, while Chelsea will finish the season as deserving champions, the brutal reality is that they have not had to beat much to secure the title.

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CHAMPS OF THE WEEK

DARLINGTON

Having seen off local rivals Spennymoor in the semi-finals, Darlington produced a supremely professional display to account for Bamber Bridge in the Evo-Stik First Division play-off final. The road back to the Football League remains a long one, but the Quakers are making genuine progress.

 

CHUMPS OF THE WEEK

MIKE WILLIAMSON and DARYL JANMAAT

Whether it was an attempt to get sent off on purpose or not, Mike Williamson’s dismissal at Leicester was an embarrassingly unprofessional act. Half an hour later, however, and Daryl Janmaat had matched it with an equally nonsensical and petulant red card.

 

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK

NEWCASTLE EAGLES vs SHEFFIELD SHARKS

The North-East’s most successful sports side continue to go from strength to strength. The Eagles thrashed the Sharks 209-168 on aggregate in the BBL play-off semi-final to set up a final with the London Lions at the O2 Arena. Win that, and they will have completed another clean sweep.

 

CHARITY BET OF THE WEEK

It was an unsuccessful weekend as the David O’Meara-trained Ingleby Angel (7-1) flopped in the Thirsk Hunt Cup. Hopefully, we’ll have more joy tomorrow, so follow @scottwilsonecho on Twitter for the latest tip. Running total: +£13.75