Fans of the Three Lions can be as excited as they want about their chances in Euro 2016 after the way they throttled their foes in the qualifying rounds. But a new statistic about the number of English players representing clubs in the Champions League may have put a damper on their perceived talent level.
According to the Daily Mail, only 12 English players have participated in Champions League fixtures through the first two matches of the tournament. An especially shocking number considering England has four Premier League clubs – second among all countries – representing them in the Champions League.
To put that 12 into perspective, consider this: the nations of Belarus (13), Croatia (13) and Israel (16) all have more of their own citizens representing their countries in the tournament despite having just one club apiece in the group stage.
The 12 England players are:
Chelsea (2) – Gary Cahill, Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Arsenal (3) – Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott
Manchester City (2) – Raheem Sterling, Joe Hart
Manchester United (5) – Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Luke Shaw, Wayne Rooney
As could have been expected, Spain and Brazil lead the way with 59 and 53 nationals playing in the tournament respectively.
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