At a time when some events prohibit telephones to ensure that the public is doing well with the experience, the observed success of the new Champions League format instead was recorded by the image of Aston Villa and Club Brugge players around Different devices are linked that irritate the scores, annoying the scores, frightening the scores. In Barcelona and Zagreb to see if they had achieved the top eight and play-offs respectively.
The scenes on Wednesday in Villa Park and the Etihad Stadium had a tangible charm for them. Here was a modern twist of transistor radios that were held on one ear, in which game states are passed on by word of mouth followed by cheers or curses, progress or elimination. This was presented as a welcome novelty, something that did not happen earlier in the group stage that replaced the competition phase. All greet the competition phase!
The broad positive reception of the new formula reminded itself of Harry Lime’s immortal line in the third man. “In Switzerland they had fraternal love, had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. “Lime might not have been as contemptuous as he knew about the Swiss model, because the new Champions League format is known.
But apart from delivering more money to the clubs, more games on the broadcasters and more income for themselves, did UEFA’s revision work?
There were some great stories during the competition phase, Van Lille and Brest who performed exaggerated to the unexpected psychodrama of Manchester City. Lille, for example, lost their coach Paulo Fonseca to Milan in the summer and sold their best young player, Leny Yoro, to Manchester United. They had to go through two preliminary rounds, where they eliminated Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce, just to make the competition phase.
When Ruben Amorim’s sporting sports defeated them on the opening evening of the Swiss model, most people would have tipped the Lisbon side, not Lille to be in the top eight. But no. Lille bounced back to beat champions Real Madrid and then Buren Atletico. They pulled Juventus and lost Liverpool after they had fallen to 10 men.
With Ngal’ayel Mukau as Lille, Remy Cabella is celebrating 6-1 on Wednesday (Rico Brouwer/SOCCRATES/GETTY images)
But earlier editions of the Champions League had no story lines such as Lille, so it’s hard to attribute those of them to the new format.
Brest may benefited from playing eight games and eight different opponents instead of six against three other clubs, as was the case in previous seasons. It feels a long time ago, but the momentum for their qualification for the upcoming play-off round came from a slight introduction to Europe’s Elite Club competition.
For the neutral their matches felt less Champions League and more Austrian Bundesliga or Mitropa Cup in the first months when they defeated Sturm Graz and RB Salzburg, and then held Bayer Leverkusen against a draw before they overcome Sparta in Prague. It was a heart-warming story, even if Brest’s Cinderella story looked a bit like giving Cinders a dating app with the best possible algorithm to help her find her happy.
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They were trumpeted as the second best new addition to the Champions League. The other was the fashion word of the last night Simulcast.
While the competition for the first time clashed with the winter transfer window, the idea of danger Was downright announced as the best new signing of the Champions League, hyped as a prospect that is able to attract more attention than the usual cast of stars. But make no mistake, a lot of smoke and mirrors were in use here.
Part of the danger came from missing the top eight.
Atalanta and Milan fell out on Wednesday. Their punishment? Two more games on their schedule in the play-offs. Is that a fine? They often want to see fans of clubs in action as much as possible, especially in the Champions League, so this didn’t seem much a penalty. On the contrary, it can be interpreted as a bonus from everyone, apart from the coach and the players who have to take into account more efforts, preparation and compief.
Yunus Musah sees Red in Zagreb and Milan are defeated – and convicted of playing two more games (Marko Lukunic/Pixsell/MB Media/Getty Images)
At one end of the rankings, Liverpool was able to send the children to play PSV in Eindhoven. On the other hand, nine teams were already eliminated before the last game week. The majority of the rest was either for sure of the qualification or almost certain, which meant that there was the danger to the position in a table that was so large, it felt like he would look at midfield in the Indy 500.
As a viewer it was difficult to keep up and stay on course.
The real drama stemmed from the random coincidence of the introduction of the new format with one season in the 17-year coaching career of Pep Guardiola when his team Sputterert. In the end, however, the expansion of the opening phase from six games to eight large clubs such as City, which left it at the last minute compared to Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, left enough rope to pull themselves out of trouble.
It used to be that 10 or 11 points was the benchmark for qualifying a six-game group. Although 12 points were not enough for Napoli in 2013. This time, in the inaugural competition phase, City, Sporting and Club Brugge reached the play-offs with 11 points of two extra competitions. Less of more of one way or another, progress represented.
City with a disaster, left it late and still reached the play -offs (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
The tie breakers were also unsatisfactory.
While Bruges celebrated in the defeat in Manchester, Dinamo Zagreb was crushed in the victory in the Maksimir. They had defeated Milan, but missed the play-offs on goal difference. It asked the question: is target difference a fair distinctive factor when you played a different set of fixtures than, in Dinamo’s case, city, sporting and bruges?
Road goals would also not be a perfect solution, because you do not play every team at home and away.
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By playing eight different teams, there is more variation, more curiosity and less equality. However, the new format still raises a mystery: when is a competition not a competition? By not playing everyone, the luminaires of your club can feel abstract and that abstraction can be like lifting the lid on Pandora’s box. Because if there is nothing at home and away, does it matter where these games are played? Would it open the door for UEFA Champions League matches in New York and Riyadh?
We should never forget the original sin of this format change, the challenge for UEFA was due to a super league. The Swiss model is an open model. It is not closed for access. But it protects clubs more income, not as much as some think they would make in a new competition-and the play-off round of 16 teams works as a safety net of elimination that holds the elite in the competition to go to the Less lucrative, more tiring Europa League to steer as in previous years.
So just like with the illusion of danger, the other trick here – a compromise actually – is that this is a super league that approaches the format under UEFA Branding.
“Are you not busy?”
I will leave you with the image of Aleksander Ceferin, bloody by the Super League uprising, which throws his sword on the Colosseum gravel.
Is it a thumb up, a thumb-down, or are your fist still floating in the air?
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(Top photo: Michael Regan – UEFA/UEFA via Getty images)