Premier League ＞ Champions League group stage? Martinelli has 1 goal in 16 Premier League games, but 5 goals and 1 assist in 5 Champions League matches.

Expanding tournaments and altering formats are not necessarily positive. Currently, following the Champions League expansion, the group stage essentially serves as a warm-up for top clubs, due to the influx of weaker teams from smaller leagues. This creates many uneven matchups, often leading to one-sided results. This is especially evident for Premier League powerhouses, highlighting that the difficulty level of the Premier League far exceeds that of the Champions League group stage. In the 21st round of the Premier League, all top four teams drew, with the big six collectively dropping points—four draws and two losses. There are many instances of strong Premier League teams dropping points against weaker sides, whereas such occurrences are rare in the Champions League group stage.

Take Arsenal forward Martinelli as an example: in the 21st round of the Premier League, Arsenal drew 0-0 at home against Liverpool. Martinelli came on as a substitute and performed reasonably well but failed to score. According to statistics, Martinelli has played 16 domestic matches (10 as a substitute) with only 1 Premier League goal, and in 2 league starts, he has yet to score, showing a very poor form. In contrast, this Brazilian forward has scored 5 goals and provided 1 assist in 5 Champions League group stage appearances this season (2 as a substitute).

Premier League leaders Arsenal have won all six matches in the first six rounds of the Champions League group stage. Perhaps accustomed to the Premier League’s intensity, they seem to treat the Champions League group stage matches lightly. Apart from clashes between top teams, matches against sides outside the top five leagues or from smaller leagues tend to be one-sided, turning into easy victories for the strong teams’ attackers. It’s likely that in the years to come, Champions League offensive stats like goals and assists will continue to break records, due to the abundance of weaker teams and “soft targets” in the group stage.