Premier League clubs struggle in Champions League – but is that a bad thing?

Of six teams in the last 16, only two – Arsenal and Liverpool – look more likely than not to get to the quarter-finals. But does it matter?

Arsenal's manager Mikel Arteta applauds his team's fans after the Champions League round of 16 first leg soccer match at Bayer Leverkusen. Pic: AP Photo/Martin Meissner

The coefficient is safe. The coefficient is yours. You’re going home with the coefficient. But perhaps not, on this evidence, with the microwave, the washing machine or the Jet Ski.

England’s soccer shame. Premier League in EURO MELTDOWN. Robot-ball crisis: how Arteta’s Arsenal destroyed all that is good and true, including the ploughman’s lunch and probably Woolworths. This kind of stuff has begun to do the rounds after this week’s Champions League last-16 matches.