English Premier League: Six teams, no wins in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16

The Premier League’s strength should have been underscored by the presence of six teams in the last 16 after the league stage, but it was a cold shower thrown into talk of its superiority as City and Chelsea were badly beaten, following defeats by Liverpool and Tottenham on Tuesday.

Arsenal, leaders of the English Premier League, needed a penalty kick from Kai Havertz in the last minute to draw with Bayer Leverkusen, who is ranked sixth in the German League, after winning eight of eight matches in the league stage.

Tottenham were humiliated by Atletico, and Liverpool lost to Galatasaray – although Newcastle United can take credit as they were only denied victory by Barcelona’s last-gasp penalty at St James’ Park.

There needs to be some big performances in the second leg, so that boasting about the Premier League’s supposed superpower does not become just empty talk.

Five of those teams played their first matches away from home. Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham must overcome a three-goal deficit, although Arsenal and Liverpool are the best hopes of qualifying.

It was an unexpected decline. Could the heavy workload and intensity of the Premier League have affected performance come the Champions League?

On this evidence, the picture for the Premier League is not as rosy as some might suggest in the context of the Champions League.

It looked very different to the more recent league table format, resulting in a clean sweep of the Premier League teams, leading to suggestions they could dominate the latter stages.

But that is not the case, as the teams that have made their way through the qualifiers such as Bodo/Glimt, Atletico, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Galatasaray have all impressed.

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who was at the Bernabeu, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We talked about the England teams and their dominance in Europe. Look at how easily they qualified, in the Europa League and Conference League as well. But in the Champions League, no English team has won.”

“Manchester City were in a better place than Real Madrid. They were plagued by injuries. It looked like an under-23 team with sparse experience for Real Madrid. But they were decisive, well-coached and beat City on the counter-attack.”