Premier League: Six teams, no wins in Champions League last-16 first legs
The Premier League’s strength was said to be highlighted by the presence of six teams in the last 16 following the league stage, but this was like a cold shower raining down on rumors of its superiority as City and Chelsea were beaten heavily following the defeat of Liverpool and Spurs on Tuesday.
Premier League leaders Arsenal needed a last-minute penalty from Kai Havertz to secure a draw with Bayer Leverkusen, who sit sixth in the Bundesliga after winning eight of eight games in the league stage.
Spurs were humiliated by Atletico, while Liverpool lost to Galatasaray; But Newcastle United may deserve credit for being denied a win by Barcelona’s last-gasp penalty at St James’ Park.
Big performances are needed in the second leg if the boasts about the Premier League’s so-called superpower are not to be in vain.
Five of these teams played their first matches away. Chelsea, Manchester City and Spurs need to overcome a three-goal deficit, but Arsenal and Liverpool are the best hopes to do so.
There was an unexpected decline. Could the heavy workload and intensity of the Premier League have caused performance to drop as the Champions League approaches?
Given this evidence, the picture for the Premier League is not as rosy as some have suggested in the context of the Champions League.
It all looked very different to the new league table format, which has led to a clean sweep of Premier League teams, leading to suggestions they could dominate the later stages.
Not so, teams that managed to qualify for the play-offs such as Bodo/Glimt, Atletico, Real, PSG and Galatasaray were all affected.
Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who is at the Bernabeu, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We talked about the England teams and their dominance in Europe. Look how easily they qualified in the European and Conference leagues too. But not a single English team has won the Champions League.”
“Manchester City were in a better place than Real Madrid. They were devastated by injuries. They looked like an under-23 team where Real’s experience had dissipated. But they trained very well and trained well and they hit City on the counter-attack.”
