The UEFA Champions league has changed its format this season. (Image: Getty)
So maybe it wasn’t that bad after all? For all the negative noise around a confusing format, player welfare, and financial disparity, the new-look ‘group stage’ ultimately had fans on the edge of their seats right up until the dying seconds of Wednesday’s games.
More high-level clashes early in the competition, European giants on the brink of elimination before the knockout stages, and the TNT Sport goals show striking solid gold. And for English football, interest remains high with four sides still alive.
But before we lavish too much praise on UEFA’s new brainchild, perhaps now is the time when the tournament does turn forward progress into an own goal.
The knockout phase play-off draw takes place from 12pm on Friday. And we can already be sure of two mouth-watering ties, with and awaiting to see if they will face or respectively.
’s reward for topping the 36-team League Phase could even be a two-legged tie with French giants . But herein lies the problem, from post-Friday onwards, teams will know what fate awaits them on a round-by-round basis.
And the elite sides are likely to already be plotting their route to the final at the Allianz Arena in Munich on May 31. Club bosses may welcome such a luxury, able to provisionally draw up travel plans for potential away games.
UEFA have already released this graphic of the road to the final. (Image: UEFA)
But the anticipation for fans, the media live draw blogs, the employees nipping to the bathroom to secretly and frantically refresh their phones for news of the draw? All now seemingly rendered a thing of the past regarding Europe’s elite competition.
Already forced to deal with rising ticket prices and variable kick-off times, this is one minor pleasure in football that surely the authorities should be kept in place for the average supporter. The new pre-empted knockout fixture format comes across as mundane, too calculated, and also hints at the influence of AI in our beautiful game.
For football followers on UK shores, the magic of a good domestic draw has already dwindled. Gone are the days when families and friends would gather around the radio and television for the third round fixtures, the competition now plagued by second-string teams, a cull of replays, and rounds being stretched over five or six days with games played on Thursday nights.
So while the likes of , , , and may now know all about the thrills and spills of the new format, here comes the worst part of the Champions League. The part where the elements of mystique and surprise have been removed.
Of course, seeded sides who finish in the top-eight of the League Phase should be rewarded. Even those finishing between 9th and 16th for the play-off rounds. But next season, UEFA should save themselves, and their computers, the extra organisational work and bring the good old-fashioned draws back for the quarter-finals onwards.
And then let the old school clamour for flights and tickets begin.