English Premier League teams set Champions League record

The five teams representing the English Premier League have set a new record as all five of its representatives in this season's Champions League qualified for the knockout stages. It is the first time in the history of the Champions League that a country has had five teams in the last-16 stage of the competition.
Manchester City went through as Group F winners despite their 2-1 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk, while Tottenham are also through in first place having wrapped up their group campaign with a 3-0 win over APOEL Nicosia. Manchester United and Liverpool qualified as group winners too, with Jurgen Klopp's side clinching top spot in Group E with their emphatic 7-0 thrashing of Spartak Moscow on Wednesday. Chelsea had to settle for second place in Group C following their 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.

This season marked the first Champions League campaign in which there were five Premier League clubs competing in the group stage after United qualified following their Europa League victory over Ajax, despite finishing sixth in the Premier League. It is the first time since the 2013-14 season that all of the English clubs have progressed, highlighting the improvement that has been made this term.

Since the Champions League reverted back to a one group stage format for the 2003-04 season, the Premier League has been allocated four Champions League places, but only on six occasions in the previous 14 years has a full complement of English teams succeeded in qualifying for the next stage.