UEFA has battled Real Madrid President Florentino Perez for years as he seeks to form the Super League in hopes of creating more meaningful matches, something the Champions League has lacked in recent years.
UEFA seems to have a winner with their new format, which has not only provided meaningful matches, but more importantly big matches earlier in the competition with fresh players, open play, and big scorelines.
Consider that before Christmas we saw AC Milan v Liverpool (1-3), Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund (5-2), FC Barcelona v Bayern Munich (4-1), Real Madrid v AC Milan (1-3), and Borussia Dortmund v FC Barcelona (2-3). In past years it was big clubs playing teams you´ve never heard of from Slovenia, Montenegro, Luxemburg, or who knows were. Boring for the most part.
Since Christmas we´ve seen Atletico Madrid v Bayern Leverkusen (2-1), PSG v Man City (4-2), and Man City v Real Madrid twice (2-3) and (3-1), with an added knockout playoff round that saw the likes of Juventus, Man City, AC Milan, and Atlanta all knocked out of the competition.
Look at Barca. Last year their first 6 games were against Royal Antwerp, FC Porto, and Shaktar Donetsk. This year’s first 8 matches featured AS Monaco, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Benfica, and Atalanta. Sure, they still played Young Boys (isn´t that a band?), and FK Crvena Zvezda…..but there´s no question the improvement is substantial.
Today as we enter the Round of 16 with Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich v Bayern Leverkusen, and PSG v Liverpool all on tap, it´s clear EUFA has found the solution to staving off Florentino and the Super League.
They had to adapt and innovate, and they did just that. Now let’s see Florentino´s next move while we enjoy the last 3 months of the best Champions League we´ve seen in years.