Video: Former Manchester United star criticises Premier League sides in Europe

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BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand slammed the English clubs in the Champions League as he believes that they are way behind their rivals from around Europe.

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Speaking after Manchester United’s exit following their 3-2 loss to Wolfsburg on Tuesday night, the 37-year-old told BT Sport that it was “embarrassing” to see the side fall into the Europa League.

Meanwhile, although Manchester City secured top spot in Group D and will advance to the knockout stages, both Chelsea and Arsenal could be out of the competition on Wednesday night depending on results in their respective groups.

Jose Mourinho’s side need to avoid defeat to Porto in order to progress, while Arsene Wenger needs to defeat Olympiakos by two goals or more, or by a scoreline of 3-2, 4-3 and so on. That is due to the fact that they have to overturn their 3-2 defeat by the Greek side at the Emirates in order to progress on the head-to-head tie-breaker.

Nevertheless, Ferdinand has been left less than impressed with the fact that all four clubs have made such hard work of making it through to the next stage of the tournament, and believes that the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain are “head and shoulders above” the English sides.

Given the way in which the Spanish sides have dominated in Europe in recent years it appears as though he has a point, while Pep Guardiola and Laurent Blanc have undoubtedly built formidable teams in Munich and Paris respectively.

His argument is also supported by the fact that the Premier League representatives have done poorly for a few years now, which in turn has led to pressure from their European rivals in the UEFA co-efficient standings which could see them lose their fourth Champions League qualification spot.

However, with potentially three teams heading into the knockout rounds, it remains to be seen if they can arrest that slide and make it through to the latter stages.

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