Bengaluru, April 27: With the UEFA Champions League having reached its business end, former England goalkeeper David James thinks it is again going to be an all-English clubs final just like the last season.

Last year, Chelsea had got the the better of Manchester City 1-0 in the final at Portugal with Kai Havertz netting the all-important winner.

This season among the four clubs to have made it to the semifinals, two -- Liverpool and Manchester City -- are from England with the other two from Spain -- Real Madrid and Villarreal.

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Manchester City already have one foot in the final after beating Real Madrid 4-3 in a high-scoring first-leg semifinal at home on Tuesday (April 26).

The second leg will be played at Real Madri's home ground of Santiago Bernabeu next week.

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Liverpool will host Villarreal in the second semifinal's first leg on Wednesday (April 27) and James, who had plied his trade with both Liverpool and Manchester City during his heydays, believes an all-English clubs final is very much on the cards.

"If everything goes well, both the English clubs should make it to the finals," James told a group of journalists in a virtual media interaction hosted by Sony Sports Network, who have the broadcast rights of Champions League matches in India.

Eminent sports anchor John Dykes had expressed a similar view sometime back.

The John Dykes Prediction: 'UEFA Champions League to see all-English clubs final'

And pressed further to pick among those two, James was quick to respond, "Could be Liverpool this time," he said.

Talking about the the Liverpool vs Villarreal game James said that though Villarreal are defensively good, they will find the going tough against the formidable Liverpool.

"Unai Emery (Villarreal coach) is 'defensive tactical genius'. But Liverpool will prove too good for them."

With only English and Spanish clubs making the semifinal cut, football buffs have been wondering as to what is wrong with the other big leagues for which James had a ready-made answer.

"Well, it just hasn't worked out for other clubs this season. Bayern Munich who recently defended the Bundesliga title were good, but they too had their flaws which was exposed by Villarreal in the quarterfinals.

"And when it comes to PSG, you've got to accept the fact that just spending money alone won't yield you the results."

James, who had a stint with Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League, opined that Premier League is more of a level-playing field and that is why the teams from England are resilient enough to make it to the business end of Europe's premier club competition. .

"The competition level in Premier League is very high. Premier League is strong and competent throughout the season unlike other domestic leagues where one team dominates throughout.

"No wonder we saw three Premier League teams in the last eight of UEFA Champions League. If not for Real Madrid's brilliance we could even have seen three Premier League teams in the last four," James concluded.

Where to watch Champions League

April 28, Thursday, 12.30am IST

Liverpool vs Villarreal

LIVE on SONY TEN 2 (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi) & SONY TEN 4 (Tamil & Telugu) channels.