The last time an English club won the Champions League was in 2011-12.

Didier Drogba’s penalty eluded Manuel Neuer to edge Chelsea past Bayern Munich in the Bavarian capital, and after eight years of growth bankrolled by Russian oil magnate Roman Abramovich, the Blues had reached the pinnacle of European football.

Chelsea’s victory was hardly indicative of the status of Premier League clubs on the continent. It was just the fourth time an English side had won the tournament since its rebranding in 1992 – and considering the other three belonged to European competition experts Manchester United and Liverpool – it made sense that fans and pundits alike were beginning to question the credentials of England’s top flight.

As recent as five years earlier – when Liverpool lost to AC Milan in the 2006-07 final, England had three teams in the semi-finals. That feat repeated itself in each of the next two Champions League campaigns, and in the span of four years, five Premier League sides contested the final.

Half a decade on, and by the time Drogba’s goal clinched a maiden Champions League victory, Chelsea’s ascension had become the exception. Here’s a look at the successes of English clubs over the last 11 Champions League and how England’s top flight has begun to trend down:

When Leicester City became the only Premier League club to advance to the quarter-finals last season, a miracle run by the Foxes was the only positive among a den of negativity concerning England’s efforts on the continent. That prompted further discussion and a slew of questions about English football, chief among them: Why are Premier League sides so poor in the Champions League?

The decline can be chalked up to several factors, ranging from the lack of a winter break and subsequent congested schedule, the competitive nature of the Premier League when compared to Europe’s other top divisions and its effect on a squad, and tactical naivety in contrast with Spanish and German peers. Gareth Bale, who has tasted Champions League football with both Spurs and Real Madrid, agrees.

“Obviously the winter break is massive. In England you’ll play four or five games and we don’t play any. You don’t get many rest days and it really does burn you out for a long time after that,” Bale told the Daily Mail in March.

“Spanish teams definitely know they have this edge over the English. Every country does: Spain, Italy, Germany, they all have the winter break.”

A glance at the quarter-final sides over the last six seasons alludes to England’s decline, a staggering number when compared to England’s second-place standing in UEFA’s club coefficient as of Sept. 29, 2017:

Without a finalist in five years and just two clubs in the last-four during that spell, this season’s efforts from a record-five English sides is flipping the trend of mediocrity on its head.

Through 15 group-stage matches, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, and Liverpool have combined for 11 victories, four draws, and nary a defeat with 44 goals scored and a scant 11 against. With the group stage at the midway point, it’s becoming clear which sides will advance to the knockout round, and which will fight for a third-place finish and a spot in the Europa League.

So far so good for the five English sides, each of whom lead their respective groups after three matches, with the two Manchester sides boasting perfect records. Tottenham and Chelsea both sit on seven points, and with six and five-point advantages, respectively, on the third-place sides in Groups H and C, meaning a spot in the last-16 for the London duo appears highly likely. Even Liverpool, which kicked-off the group stages with a pair of underwhelming stalemates, stands atop of Group E by virtue of Tuesday’s 7-0 drubbing of Maribor.

Whether tactical adjustments or increased payrolls and spending powers courtesy of a massive television deal are the reason for England’s return to prominence, it’s both too early to say and too complicated to quantify. One thing that’s clear is that Premier League clubs are again to be feared on the continent, a standard befitting Europe’s richest league.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

Washington Redskins defensive lineman Jonathan Allen will miss the rest of the season after suffering a Lisfranc injury in his left foot during Sunday’s win over San Francisco, a source said Wednesday.

It’s a crushing blow for a defense that had been improving, in part because of Allen’s performance.

Allen, the 17th overall pick in this year’s draft, visited noted foot specialist Dr. Robert Anderson on Tuesday. Redskins right tackle Morgan Moses had a similar injury near the end of the 2014 season, but underwent surgery and returned for the start of training camp.

The Redskins (3-2) play at Philadelphia on Monday night and could be without three key defensive players. Josh Norman (rib) missed Sunday’s 26-24 victory and fellow cornerback Bashaud Breeland had to leave early after spraining the MCL in his left knee.

After crashing out of the Champions League last season courtesy of a 2-1 defeat to Monaco, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino admitted his squad was too thin to handle the rigours of Europe’s marquee tournament.

“Our objective is to be competitive in the Premier League and Champions League but we need to show more, maybe to add more quality in our squad,” the affable Argentine gaffer told the Mirror last November.

“We have quality, yes, to compete in the Premier League but maybe to share both, maybe after today we see we struggle a little bit.”

Nearly 11 months removed from the loss at the Stade Louis II, Spurs were again hampered by a handful of injuries for Tuesday’s unenviable visit to the Santiago Bernabeu to face Real Madrid, but instead of suffering through a slew of second-choice players, Tottenham excelled in the 1-1 stalemate.

Winks glimmers in the Spanish capital

It’s easy to hype up English players, especially those that wear the badge of an academy product.

That’s exactly the burden that Harry Winks carries, and while the load is beyond his control, the 21-year-old made a good account of himself Tuesday.

With ball-stopping midfield duo Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama both absent with injury, Winks paired with Eric Dier in a 4-2-3-1 formation opposite central midfield monoliths Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. Perhaps the greatest testament to Winks’ performance was that he didn’t appear out of place.

Winks completed 94 percent of his passes and successfully bagged 14 more than any other Spurs players, but it was his work in cutting off Real’s distribution through the middle to Karim Benzema that will earn the once-capped Three Lion praise. Look no further than Winks’ team-best three interceptions for proof of a polished two-way player who is making the most of Pochettino’s faith.

Sissoko shines out wide

Considering the magnitude of the opponent and its celebrated venue, Tottenham’s starting XI raised a few eyebrows.

Ben Davies’ illness and Danny Rose’s 10-month absence meant Jan Vertonghen slotted in at left-back, and with Dele Alli serving a suspension, Fernando Llorente played as a quasi No. 10 with Christian Eriksen and Moussa Sissoko on the wings.

While Eriksen was busy getting a 90-minute lesson in metronome management from Modric, Sissoko was starring on the left flank. Arguably his best performance in a Spurs strip since a deadline day move last summer from Newcastle, Sissoko combined with right-back Serge Aurier to brilliant results. An enterprising effort from the French international both in possession and off the ball saw Sissoko pair two successful dribbles, complete 82 percent of passes, and perhaps most remarkably, get stuck in on three fruitful tackles, monitoring the world’s best full-back in Marcelo.

Contrast between two continental campaigns

After getting bounced by the principality lot 11 months ago, Pochettino offered, “Maybe after five games we do not show enough quality to share two tough competitions in the Premier League and Champions League.”

Tottenham appeared outclassed in Europe, Winks barely had a few appearances under his belt, and Sissoko’s move to the English capital was maligned as one of Spurs’ worst summer signings.

A year on, and elated Tottenham supporters who had made the trip to Madrid were singing, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, who needs Bale when you’ve got Sissoko?”

What a difference a year can make.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

NEW ORLEANS — Sean Payton was upset after his team’s win Sunday. Yes, upset after a win. The Saints had beaten the Lions 52-38 in a 1 p.m. ET game that took so long that former Saint Adrian Peterson already had rushed for 76 yards in the first quarter of a 4 p.m. ET game for his new Arizona Cardinals team by the time the New Orleans coach’s postgame news conference began.

• 

  Is there more left in the tank for Adrian Peterson? How will Green Bay cope with the loss of Aaron Rodgers? We look to the tape for answers to that and more from Week 6.

• 

  All of a sudden, the Cardinals have their three-headed offensive monster back — and it all starts with Adrian Peterson.

• 

  Blocking matters in fantasy football, and in Week 6 we saw a pair of running backs stand out with big fantasy point totals. Are their performances sustainable? KC Joyner explores that and more in his review of the matchups along the line of scrimmage.

2 Related

The Saints had built a 45-10 lead only to see it whittled down to seven in the fourth quarter. Payton was annoyed about the way his team struggled to finish. So when someone asked about what Peterson was doing in Arizona and whether it gave him pause about trading the old warhorse five days earlier, Payton wasn’t having any.

“That’s a dumb question,” Payton said. “We’re trying to win games, and I’d love to have that player. But it’s hard to have that many and get into a rhythm. I thought Mark [Ingram] and Alvin [Kamara] had some big plays, and I would hope we would have had that type of rushing output if Adrian was a part of it.”

Ingram and Kamara combined for 189 yards on 35 carries in the Saints’ win on Sunday. And while they couldn’t salt away the game by running it late, they won it by running it early and often, which makes you realize the Saints were loaded at running back and just couldn’t come up with anything for Peterson to do.

“I told you all, he’s still got the juice,” Ingram said after hearing what Peterson was doing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in his first game as a Cardinal.

He does, or did on this one day, and who’s to say that at age 32 a player as freakishly dominant and resilient as Peterson can’t possibly resurrect his career and the Cardinals’ season at the same time? Arizona’s offensive line has had a rough year, but Peterson in his prime was one of those running backs the old coaches like to say “brings his own blocking.” This is no longer his prime, but what if he has enough motivation to muster three good months?

Saints players with whom I spoke last week talked in near-reverential terms about Peterson and the impression he made on them in six months as their teammate.

“He’s a freak,” wide receiver Michael Thomas said. “He takes care of his body really well, that’s one thing I took from him, just the way he’s always doing his shakes, he’s always lifting, he’s always taking care of his body, always trying to find an edge, that’s just one thing I took from him. He’s just professional. No matter what happened, no matter how many times he didn’t get the ball, he really never brought that in here or, you know, pointed fingers or anything. He just put his head down and came to work the next day. So I appreciate that, and I have tons of respect for him.”

Saints players were loving the news of Peterson’s performance in Arizona, while also happy about what they still have at running back. This could be the kind of thing that works out well for everyone, if Peterson helps rescue the Cardinals and the Saints’ backs blossom in their opportunities. Hey, the NFC is wide-open, folks. Go run through that hole.

Some other stuff we learned in Week 6:

---

All is still not well with the Steelers, but it’s getting there

The truth on the Martavis Bryant story, regardless of what the player is saying publicly, is that Bryant and his agent have expressed unhappiness with the way he’s being used in the offense and, some weeks ago, told the Steelers that Bryant would prefer to be traded if his current role is all they have in mind. Multiple sources say Bryant’s agent has spoken with Steelers management since the season began to express these sentiments, and that Bryant himself spoke with coaches during the week leading up to Pittsburgh’s Week 5 game to ask about being a bigger part of the offense. That has not materialized, though Bryant isn’t exactly being ignored. He has played 71 percent of Pittsburgh’s offensive snaps, second among Steelers wide receivers to only the incredible Antonio Brown (93 percent) and slightly ahead of rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster (66 percent), though Smith-Schuster saw the field more in Week 6. Bryant has been targeted 34 times, which is third on the team behind Brown (74) and superstar running back Le’Veon Bell (39). Smith-Schuster has 24 targets.

I can see the reason for Bryant’s frustration. He views himself as a difference-making player whose size/speed combination is unique and who, if given the opportunity, can do serious damage downfield or in the red zone. He has worked extremely hard to come back clean, healthy and in better shape than ever following his one-year drug suspension. By all accounts, he looks incredible in practice. On a representative number of current NFL teams, he’d have a claim on the title of No. 1 wide receiver.

But the Steelers aren’t just any team. They have Brown and Bell, otherworldly talents who have established themselves as key cogs in the offense while Bryant has missed time on suspension during his four-year career. The Steelers would love to use Bryant to his full potential, score 60 points a game and dominate the NFL through sheer force of will and athleticism. But it’s not that simple, and there are many mouths to feed, including that of Smith-Schuster, the talented second-round pick whose opportunity has surprised Bryant. Something’s still off with the connection between Bryant and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, and it seems that, plus Bryant’s anxious desire to make up for lost time, is creating an issue.

Bottom line, the Steelers aren’t going to trade Bryant, who still has more value to them as a member of their team than he does in trade. As brilliantly talented as he might be, he has yet to establish himself as an NFL dominator, and until he does, the Steelers aren’t likely to get a team to offer them sufficient return for his still-latent potential. There’s still likely a breakout coming, and when it does, the Steelers want to benefit from that with points and wins.

A victory Sunday over previously unbeaten Kansas City has the Steelers feeling better. And the production and opportunity Brown and Bell are getting has those guys placated for the moment at least. Bryant’s day will come, and while it’s easy to understand his impatience, the Steelers have no reason to act on it.

Ben McAdoo did some coaching this week

In this space last week, I laid out the case for the New York Giants moving on from Jerry Reese after this season. He has been general manager for 11 seasons and will have made the playoffs in only four of them — two of which were in his first two seasons. This is a large sample size.

But I also made the point that changing GMs doesn’t automatically mean changing coaches, and that two years on McAdoo would be too small a sample size. Week 6 proved my point. McAdoo was taking a lot of heat this time last week, and it got worse as the week went on because of the Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie discipline issue. But the proof is in the pudding, and the display the Giants put on Sunday night in dominating the Broncos in Denver shows that McAdoo pulled off an NFL head coach’s No. 1 job. He had his team completely ready to play in Sunday night’s upset at Denver.

The discipline of Rodgers-Cromartie was, Giants coaches believed, necessary to send a message that turning your back on teammates won’t be tolerated. The decision to hand over playcalling to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan was a case of a head coach swallowing his pride and realizing his attention was needed for the bigger picture. Smart, responsible moves that paid off. At 1-5, this Giants season isn’t salvageable, but McAdoo will rightly be judged on how he navigates it now that it’s lost. The final score Sunday night indicates he’s on the right track.

But … did Vance Joseph?

There was a lot of focus on how surprisingly great a night that was for the Giants, but wasn’t it also just an inexcusably terrible loss for the Broncos? At home, coming off a bye against an 0-5 team that was down its top three wide receivers, its starting center, its best pass-rusher and one of its top two cornerbacks? And your top two division rivals had already lost, like, an hour before? How do you come out flat in a game like that? Should be a wake-up call for a Broncos team that has mainly played angry after missing the playoffs in 2016.

Mike McCarthy is betting on himself, and it could pay off

With Aaron Rodgers out, possibly for the season, due to a broken collarbone, Packers coach McCarthy has been adamant about going with third-year backup Brett Hundley and not looking for outside help. Hundley is well-regarded in some scouting circles, and part of the reason people around the league are intrigued by him is that they’d be intrigued by any quarterback who had spent three years in McCarthy’s program.

People were surprised that Dallas went with Alfred Morris and not Darren McFadden as the backup to Elliott out of the gate in Week 1. Part of that was because Morris had an especially strong camp, but according to the coaches with whom I’ve spoken, the main reason was game plan-driven. They’d installed a game plan thinking they’d have Elliott, and that game plan is designed for one back to get the bulk of the carries. They believed Morris was better equipped to operate that game plan if something were to happen to Elliott during the game, so he was active and McFadden was not.