Arsene Wenger has said that the Champions League has become less interesting in recent years, as he prepares to take his Arsenal side to Belarus to face BATE Borisov in the Europa League.

Wenger’s unbroken 19-year run of Champions League football came to an end after he could only guide them to fifth place in last season’s Premier League, but he said that the competition no longer held the appeal it once did.

“I think that in the group stage, there are not many interesting games,” he said. “You choose [to watch] only one or two games.

“It’s a routine now, the Champions League, in the group stage. Look at the audiences. It has lost some attraction power.”

Wenger is certainly justified in pointing out the decline in audience figures, certainly in this country. Champions League television audiences have been in decline for some years now, with even games featuring English clubs attracting audiences of around 200,000 on BT Sport. This year’s final attracted more television viewers in the United States than it did in this country.