Champions League: England flops, Spain surges

LONDON, England (AP):

So much for the English taking over European soccer.

The final Champions League group stage in its current format ended with representation from the supposedly all-powerful Premier League cut in half as Manchester United and Newcastle failed to advance to the knockout stage – and were even knocked out of European competition altogether.

Instead, there was a Spanish resurgence, a decent showing from the German contingent, and a couple of nice surprises making their way into the round of 16 in the form of Copenhagen and PSV Eindhoven.

This was the last year of the 32-team, eight-pool group stage, with UEFA pivoting next season to a single 36-team league that will see clubs play eight games – up from the current six. The top eight teams will advance automatically to the round of 16 knockout bracket and Nos. 9 to 24 in the standings go into a playoff round to decide the other eight qualifiers.

So, what have we learned ahead of the round of 16 draw on Monday?

ENGLAND’S STRUGGLES

There will be wry smiles around Europe as English teams received a bloody nose, just when the Premier League seemed to have unstoppable momentum on the back of wealth generated from huge broadcast deals. Only defending champions Manchester City and Arsenal got through, marking England’s weakest round-of-16 challenge in 11 years. It’s quite the slump for a country that has provided six of the last 10 finalists and three of the last five winners. Not helping England’s cause was this being Newcastle’s first participation in 20 years, with the Saudi-owned northeast team plunged into the toughest group – containing Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan – and running into an injury crisis that hit a relatively shallow squad. Oh, and there was a huge refereeing error that ultimately cost Newcastle dear. As for United, it was a chaotic campaign for a club in something of a maelstrom amid ownership wrangles and concerns over the quality of their manager.

SPAIN’S SURGE

Of the eight group winners – Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid, Dortmund, Man City and Barcelona – four are from Spain. While it was expected from Madrid, and potentially Barca and Atletico, too, given they were placed in weak groups, Sociedad’s rise with a mostly homegrown team and coach is a welcome sight for romantics keen to see new names thrive. In their first Champions League season in a decade, Sociedad were unbeaten and conceded just two goals. Barca are back in the big time, too, after a failing to get out of the group stage in its first two post-Lionel Messi seasons. Real, fuelled by Jude Bellingham, was one of two teams – with Man City — to claim a maximum of 18 points while Atletico were unbeaten, too. Germany arguably performed the best of the rest, with Bayern and Dortmund winning groups and Leipzig second behind City.

SURPRISE PACKAGES

PSV, the European champions in 1988 and runaway leader in the Eredivisie, are in the knockout stage for the first time since 2016. Their only loss in 26 games this season was a 4-0 beating by Arsenal in their Champions League opener. Copenhagen’s only previous appearance in the round of 16 was in 2011. The Danish champions helped dump out Man United and have been boosted by playing in front of a passionate home crowd at the atmospheric Parken Stadium. Having said that, the two clubs whose budgets are counted in tens of millions not hundreds are opponents that group winners likely will want to face next. The other runners-up were Napoli, Inter Milan, Lazio, PSG, Leipzig and Porto.