Tommy Martin: Damned by Premier League coefficients

And yet, even as the Premier League’s dominance of the UEFA coefficient was continuing, the sense was of the actual pinnacle of European club football being elsewhere.

EUROPEAN HOPES: Gabriel celebrates Arsenal’s late winner, scored by team-mate Kai Havertz, during the Champions League quarter-final first leg match against Sporting at the Jose Alvalade Stadium this week. Pic: Zed Jameson/PA

You’d think a week in which the Premier League secured an extra Champions League place for next season would be a time for celebration for the bestest league in the whole wide world.

UEFA dreamed up the idea of ‘European Performance Spots’ a few years back, ostensibly as a way to reward leagues that performed consistently well in European competition by letting them send an extra nose into club football’s most lucrative trough.