Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez believes it is "premature" to suggest the Premier League is a fading force in European competition. English clubs have been the stand-out performers on the continent in recent years, primarily in the Champions League where they have had at least one finalist every season since 2005 and made up three of the four semi-finalists in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
However, for the first time in seven years, the Premier League was not represented in the last four of Europe's top club competition this season.
The only English hopes remaining in Europe now lie with the Europa League with Fulham and Liverpool .
"It's circumstantial; I think that we need to weigh up this end of English dominance next season. If there are no English teams in the semi-finals of the Champions League or the Europa League, then you'd be able to make such an analysis, but now it's premature," Benitez told Spanish newspaper AS.
