Anyone active and higher level than you has the resources by the game to sign better players than you and blow your team out the water, I'd win against this team if he were at L17 like me because all of his players would have 5 less quality than my squad.
L17 spends 500T gets a team average of Q106
L18 spends 500T gets a team average of Q111
L19 spends 500T gets a team average of Q116 (there are L19 players in my cup)
That isn't a level playing field.