Six Premier League clubs are in the Champions League round of 16. No other league in Europe came close to that representation. For weeks the continent had been muttering about English football’s dominance, nine Premier League sides made it through the league phase, more than any other country. The narrative was set, this was England’s competition to lose.
They lost it before the second legs even happened.
Not one Premier League team won the first leg. Not one, four lost, two drew. The combined scoreline across all six ties was 6-16 against. Sky Sports confirmed it, the last time no English team recorded a last-16 first-leg European win was back in 2022/23. This is a collective failure of a scale that demands an honest conversation.
Let’s go through it because the individual stories are almost as damaging as the overall picture.
Liverpool the reigning Premier League champions went to Istanbul as heavy favourites against Galatasaray. Opta had them with an 82% chance of progressing. They had a near full-strength squad available. They lost 1-0, conceding from a corner, the same individual defensive failure that has cost them all season. Mario Lemina left unmarked. Ball in the net. That’s it.
Chelsea went to Paris and got taken apart 5-2 by PSG. Two goals in 90 seconds at one point. The defending champions of the tournament were ruthless and Chelsea had no answer for it.
Tottenham. Oh, Tottenham. A 5-2 loss to Atlético Madrid, their sixth consecutive defeat across all competitions, the first time in the club’s history they have lost six in a row. They are currently in a genuine relegation battle in the Premier League. A club that was in the Champions League final not long ago is now fighting to stay in the top flight. That is a collapse of historic proportions.
And then there’s City. 3-0 to Real Madrid. We’ve already talked about what Valverde did. But Guardiola’s tactical decisions that night deserve scrutiny. He rotated, started players who had been heavily used at Newcastle days earlier, and watched his side get dismantled in the first half. A manager of his experience making that call in a Champions League knockout tie is hard to understand.
The two draws, Arsenal and Newcastle were the only pieces of anything resembling a positive result. Arsenal rescued a late penalty at Leverkusen through Kai Havertz, converted against his boyhood club. Newcastle held Barcelona to 1-1 at St James’ Park. Both are alive. Both face enormous tasks in the second legs.
Now I know what the defence of the Premier League will be. The draw was brutal, four of the six teams faced Spanish opposition. The fixture congestion in England is real, teams playing every three days, travelling across Europe, managing massive squads. These are legitimate points. The Premier League’s commercial demands place a physical toll on its clubs that other leagues don’t face at the same level.
But here’s my problem with that argument. It’s been the excuse for years. Every time English clubs underperform in Europe the conversation turns to fixture congestion, to the intensity of the domestic league, to the physical demands. And yet the money keeps flowing in, the squads keep getting more expensive, and the results in Europe keep being explained away.
At some point the excuses have to run out. Spain sent their clubs into these ties and Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético all won. The Bundesliga’s Bayern Munich demolished Atalanta 6-1, Bodø/Glimt beat Sporting CP 3-0.
The Premier League is still the most-watched domestic league on the planet. The talent is there. The money is there. But there is something about the transition from league football to European knockout football, the tactical adjustment, the defensive discipline required, the ability to control a tie over two legs that English clubs are consistently failing to master.
Six teams. Zero wins. The best league in the world needs to look in the mirror.
