New Delhi: The revamped Champions League league phase reached a dramatic conclusion on Wednesday night, delivering high-stakes football and unexpected twists. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City survived a major scare as they trailed Club Brugge at half-time, risking an early exit from the competition, before scraping through to the next round. Aston Villa, meanwhile, found themselves in a tense battle against Celtic, fighting to secure a top-eight finish that guarantees direct passage to the last 16.
With the group stage replaced by a single league table, every match carried immense significance, making for an electrifying final round. The new format has certainly reshaped the competition, heightening both excitement and unpredictability. Now, as Europe’s premier competition enters its knockout phase, the attention shifts to the play-offs that will determine the remaining last-16 spots.
The tournament’s fresh structure has brought about thrilling moments, but it has also raised questions about fairness, competitiveness, and fixture congestion. Some teams have flourished under the new system, while others have struggled to adapt. With UEFA’s top club competition evolving, it’s time to assess what has worked, what hasn’t, and how these changes have impacted the biggest stage in European football.
5) Higher the stakes, higher the excitement
With the tournament now consisting of 36 teams rather than the 32 in previous editions, it offered more room for spills and thrills. Heading into the final matchday of the group stages in the last edition of the tournament, 13 teams had already secured a place in the Round of 16, whereas before last night’s kick off, only Liverpool and Barcelona had officially secured a spot in the next round. 27 teams still had a chance to secure a place in the next round on the final matchday of the league stage, which certainly raised the stakes for the players and the excitement amongst the fans.
This resulted in the European giants like Bayern Munich, Juventus and defending champions Real Madrid in needing a win on the final game to better their chances of qualification. Manchester City, who were European champions less than two years, were 45 minutes away from being dumped out of the competition. UEFA’s decision to have teams face eight different opponents in the league stage, led to 64 goals in the last 18 matches which certainly adds more variety to an otherwise boring final matchdays of seasons past with most matches being dead rubber.
4) Drawn out first stage of the tournament
The new Champions League format, featured an expanded league stage, which drew criticism for its extended duration, with 144 matches played compared to 96 the previous year. Despite the hopes of UEFA to make every match count, many teams, such as Young Boys, Slovan Bratislava and those around them in the table, were already out of contention after losing their first seven games. Other clubs like Bologna, Leipzig, and Red Star Belgrade found themselves with no incentive to play by the end of the group stage, highlighting the lack of a consolation prize like the Europa League for eliminated teams.
The increased number of teams and matches has added to the perception of a drawn-out process. Though the inclusion of 48 extra fixtures has added more opportunities for teams, it’s resulted in a slow build-up to the latter stages of the tournament. The knockout round play-offs further elongate the road to the final, with some teams playing up to 17 games if they make it all the way from the play-offs. This expanded format has left some questioning whether it takes away from the excitement and competitiveness of the competition, as the focus shifts to survival over excitement in the early stages.
3) Fixture congestion for fans and players both
All clubs competing in the group stages of the previous seasons played six games each but with the addition of teams, each team played two more games, competing in eight games during the league stage of the tournament. While this does provide more revenue for both UEFA and the teams competing, it increases the load on players because of the fixture congestion while also increasing the carbon footprint which is involved in getting them to these games. The increase in fixtures isn’t only a problem for the players but is also one for the fans.
With increasing fixtures, fans also have to face more travel costs, especially at time when ticket prices for the games are a hotly contested topic amongst fans across Europe. With the revamp of this tournament coinciding with the expansion of the FIFA Club World Cup as well, this season is expected to be a long one for everyone involved. This fixture congestion has also led to players speaking out against the pile up of games with Manchester City midfielder Rodri stating that players might be force to go on a strike to be heard.
2) Varied and competitive fixtures
The new system intended to create a more competitive balance by allowing teams to face opponents of similar levels throughout the league phase, but this goal revealed contradictions, especially in the seedings. Villa’s win over Bayern, while just four points off the Premier League’s top spot, highlighted how some fourth-pot teams were just as strong as those higher up. Meanwhile, teams like Young Boys, from pot three, found themselves facing far tougher opponents such as Inter Milan, Barcelona, and Atalanta, raising questions about the fairness of the draw and the supposed balance in the system.
Moreover, the ranking system based on points, despite teams facing only 20% of their possible opponents, seems flawed. In previous editions, clubs like Dinamo Zagreb might have had the chance to take revenge on a heavy loss, such as their 9-2 defeat to Bayern, but now they are limited by the narrow scope of their fixtures. This reduced variety, coupled with the disparities in opposition strength, calls into question whether the new format truly achieves its intended balance or simply exacerbates inconsistencies across the league phase.
1) Huge games deliver on promise
The biggest selling point that UEFA latched on to while justifying this change in format was that the new format would deliver huge match ups between big teams more frequently than the previous editions. The tournament did ultimately deliver on that promise with fans witnessing a repeat of the 2023 UEFA Champions League final on the very first matchday as Manchester City and Inter Milan faced one another. Another high profile fixture between English and Italian clubs saw AC Milan take on Liverpool on the same night as well.
There was also a repeat of last year’s final in the league stage as Real Madrid emerged victorious over Borussia Dortmund once again, beating them 5-2. The league stage saw many high scoring thrillers, such as Dortmund’s 7-0 win over Celtic, Lille’s 6-1 thrashing of Feyenoord or Barcelona’s nine goal thriller with Benfica that they edged out 5-4. Manchester City, while having an extremely underwhelming campaign till now, conceded 13 goals in the defeats to Juventus, PSG and Sporting CP. The big games of the tournament delivered on their promise, marking a thrilling end to the first leg.
The revamped UEFA Champions League’s league stage came to a thrilling end last night with 12 teams exiting at the first stage. Let’s dive in to find out how has the new format changed the tournament completely! Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
