The Premier League has had better weeks. A right old bruising in the Champions League. Won’t somebody think of the coefficient?
There were wry smiles across the continent on Thursday morning when the self-proclaimed Best League in the World saw its remaining Champions League hopes extinguished. There will be no English club in the semi-finals for the first time in four years.
Bayern Munich are enduring their worst season in recent memory and gently eased Arsenal on to the hard shoulder. Real Madrid taunted Manchester City into a penalty shootout and, with their voodoo in this competition, prevailed as everybody inside the Etihad Stadium expected them to once it came down to nerve and kicking stationary balls from 12 yards.