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Money talks in the Champions League

The authoritative Swiss Ramble takes a look at the finances of the remaining clubs in the Champions League and Europa League. Three clubs in the Champions League quarter-finals have over half a billion pounds revenue, led by Barcelona £612m, followed by the two Manchester clubs: United £590m and City £500m. Lowest revenue by far at Ajax £81m and Porto £94m.

Barcelona £431m have by far the highest wage bill (even after excluding other sports), followed by Manchester United £296m.

The English clubs have by far the highest revenue in the Europa League: Chelsea £448m and Arsenal £389m. Then a large gap of more than £200m to Napoli £162m, followed by Benfica £133m and Eintracht Frankfurt £103m. The two Spanish clubs, Valencia and Villarreal, are both below £100m.

The Swiss Ramble concludes, 'Obviously, money isn’t everything, but success on the pitch usually correlates pretty well with revenue and wages. We shall soon see whether that is again reflected in this season’s Champions League and Europa League.'

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