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City, Liverpool best
"Currently Manchester City and Liverpool are comfortably clear of everyone in European football. From what I've seen of City and Liverpool in recent times across all competitions, these two are the best clubs right now in Europe. There's every chance of an all-English final," Dykes said in a virtual media interaction arranged by Sony Sports Network with a select group of journalists.
However, he was quick to add that Bayern and Real are always there in the mix.
Real, Bayern a threat
"You've to put Bayern there as well. But they aren't getting the level of competition to tune them up for bigger challenges ahead. So there's always a possibility that they might end up losing to to any of the English clubs in the later stages of the tournament. "Real Madrid are always a class apart especially with Karim Benzema (who scored a hat-trick in the first leg against Chelsea) in full form. So you could never write these teams off," he said.
Dykes, a popular face in the footballing anchoring space, having previously hosted shows like The John Dykes Show and Football Focus with John Dykes, feels UEFA's decision to end the home-and-away rule from this year onwards in all its premier competitions will not have much of an effect.
Home-and-away
"I don't think it's going to have much of an impact and I've always had my reservations over this rule. The overall balance of the game after 180 minutes gets affected due to this. As Pep Guardiola (Manchester City manager) would say "the final result doesn't reflect the football we played". Anyways, it's part of history and drama and it isn't a factor anymore.
"We're used to this narrative, getting something out of a tie or so and prevailing on away goals. But now things have changed. These days, the very best teams will try to get their jobs done in the first-leg itself," Dykes added.
Serie A woes
The absence of a Serie A club from the last-eight in the UEFA's premier club competition has send the tongues wagging and Dykes attributed it to the failure of the system.
"Serie A clubs have always had issues with financial mis-management and lack of planning. We've good Italian players play well domestically and they went on to win European Championship last year. But one team alone dominating the league for a long time doesn't augur well. The fall from grace of a top club club like AC Milan also doesn't help Serie A cause," he added.
Critical of PSG
Currently, featuring on The Top Corner with John Dykes on Sony Sports Network where every Thursday he talks on all things related to the Beautiful Game, Dykes was critical of the big-spending Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) club.
"Whoever tips PSG as favourites for Champions League every year is getting it wrong. They've a track record of crumbling under pressure. PSG is a product of celebrity football and the galacticos culture.
"When you develop a team by assembling superstars rather than developing it organically, then you always run the potential risk of a collapse which has happened with PSG time and again. When push comes to the shove, they always tend to implode," added Dykes about the Qatar-owned Ligue 1 club, which has an assembly of stars like Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
