How did so many Champions League greats getaway from Stoke?

Do you know how many of Stoke City’s 2018 relegated team have played in the latter stages of the Champions League and even won it?

Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting scored the goal that sent PSG to the semi-finals of the Champions League.

The striker was somewhat of a surprise signing by the French giants. He was acquired from Stoke City back in 2018 on a free transfer.

The Cameroon international left the Potters after they were relegated from the Premier League.

But the question is how did Stoke find themselves in such a predicament when you look at the history of the players in that fateful side of the 2017/18 season.

After ten years in the top flight, Stoke only managed 33 points in the entire season and subsequently were relegated. It has been a miserable time for the club since then and there appears little hope of them returning any time soon.

But how did they get relegated?

Now that Choupo-Moting has made it to the semi-finals, that makes almost a double hand full of players from that side who have been to that stage of the competition in their careers.

If you add up the multiple times some have been there it totals 15 appearances, in the semi-finals of the world’s most prestigious club competition.

Glen Johnson, Peter Crouch, Darren Fletcher, Bojan Krkic, Ibrahim Afellay, Xherdan Shaqiri, Jese and now Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting.

Should PSG go all the way to the final and win it, that would put that side having no less than six Champions League winners in it too.