Four English teams out in 24 hours - what just happened and why?
Five of the six English teams competing in Europe's top competition finished inside the top eight of the league phase, securing automatic progression to the last 16. Newcastle booked their place later after coming through the play-offs. Several of Europe's heavy hitters also finished outside the top eight and therefore faced the lottery of the play-offs - but, across two legs rather than the one-off games of the league stage, the higher-seeded teams generally came out on top.
That left the Premier League sides facing tough matches in the last 16, so is it really that surprising to see so few remaining? Manchester City drew Real Madrid for the sixth time in seven Champions League campaigns and the 15-time winners brushed aside their patchy league form to progress 5-1 on aggregate. Chelsea faced an uphill task against defending champions Paris St-Germain and were made to suffer with an 8-2 aggregate defeat.
Newcastle held their own against Barcelona and were in contention for 135 minutes of action but conceded four goals in the second half of the second leg to eventually lose 8-3 on aggregate. Chelsea exit Champions League with heavy defeat by PSG It is perhaps unsurprising that relegation-threatened Tottenham were unable to break down European giants Atletico Madrid, eventually losing 7-5 across two legs. Before the first legs, Opta predicted four of the six English teams would go through.
After the first leg, only Arsenal and Liverpool were tipped to progress, with that prediction ultimately coming to fruition - and it could be argued they each faced more favourable opponents in Bayer Leverkusen and Galatasaray. Premier League managers have long complained about the number of games and lack of rest for their teams. Finishing inside the top eight of the Champions League league phase meant avoiding the two play-off matches but, in what is already a packed schedule, that seems to have made little difference.
Following their European exit, Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior said his side were tired having played "over 100 games in 18 months with no break" because of the demands of domestic and international football. City boss Pep Guardiola has often lamented the schedule, previously calling it a "disaster" for players, and cancelled training before his side's second leg against Real in favour of a rest day. Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp also called for change, while his successor Arne Slot said the lack of a winter break in England is "not helpful".