The group stage of the Champions League will be played through for the last time in its current form.
Kylian Mbappé (R) and Ousmane Dembélé will provide the highlight of Tuesday night as PSG host Dortmund. PDO
The familiar anthem once again fills Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, when the baroque master by Georg Friedrich Handel tunes blared from the television.
– Yes, it is bumping, C Moren, who hosts the Champions League broadcasts Petri Pasanen confess.
– It reminds me of those times when you’ve stood in a line yourself and the camera goes in front of your nose. They are always evening light games and the crowd is buzzing. For a little while, that anthem stops.
Pasanen’s statistics include 36 Champions League matches in the shirts of Ajax and Werder Bremen. The defender’s only goal came in the spring of 2003, when he headed the ball with the power of the Valencia national team coach of Santiago Cañizares behind the back.
– There was always a big team from there. That was always the most interesting, Pasanen recalls the highlight of the block raffle event.
The format changes
However, all that is a disappearing folklore. The league’s anthem threatens to remain the only recognizable factor after UEFA changes the entire structure of the competition to a completely new one.
This autumn, the current model, 32 teams and eight initial groups of four teams, will be farewelled.
Teams drawn against each other in the same group play twice against each other: at home and away. In the end, the two best move on to the spring playoff rounds.
All this will end up in the scrap heap in autumn 2024 with the new “Swiss system”. Next year, the teams in the group will not all play against everyone, but the opponents of the eight game rounds will survive through a suitable level of difficulty.
– Time will tell if we will miss this, Pasanen cautiously admits.
There are a total of 125 matches in the current league. In the 2024–25 season, the number will increase by more than 50 percent to 189 matches.
– It may mean that the number of meaningless matches will also increase. No one needs more of them.
In the end, even in the new model, the best should come out on top. But is that actually part of the problem?
For example, in the 2021 group stage, the Transnistrian football club Sheriff Tiraspol sensationally beat Real Madrid on the Whites’ home field.
In the end, however, Madrid continued as group winners until the final in Paris, where they knocked out Liverpool, lifting the European Cup trophy for the 14th time.
The Sheriff’s adventure ended with a heavy loss to Braga in the second round of the Europa League group stage.
– In many years, we have seen that finally all the big ones are involved in February, when we really start playing for the trophy.
– There should be more excitement and different highlights in the fall, Pasanen’s line.
A model from the USA?
Harry Kane was signed to solve Bayern Munich’s goalscoring problems. PDO
The PSG boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi has suggested that the Champions League should have its own opening match, where the reigning champions face another super club.
According to the Qatari, it is also incomprehensible how Yankee football gets a huge lift around its Super Bowl, but in the same way, the annual Champions League final is hardly even visible in the street view of its playing location.
Pasanen agrees.
– I understand the realities: the calendar is full and it’s hard to find time. Still, I long for the opening game and the finale to be even bigger than now.
The increase in the number of matches also means higher television revenues. Uefa sharpens its canine teeth even sharper shampoo, the purpose of which is to forge millions for the umbrella organization.
– It would be a miracle if there was no money behind in professional sports, Pasanen laughs.
– On the other hand, I want all the best to be in the Champions League. It is said that this is the biggest and greatest club team competition. Then this must also be worth it.
“The logical thing to chase”
This season is off to a strong start. In the opening round on Tuesday and Wednesday, for example, AC Milan–Newcastle, PSG–Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich–Manchester United are offered.
The story continues after the picture
Jude Bellingham has started really strong in the Real Madrid shirt. PDO
Reigning champion Manchester City lost a playmaker in the summer İlkay Gündoğan and Riyad Mahrez’s. Among the competitors, Bayern Munich got stronger With Harry Kane and Madrid By Jude Bellingham.
– It would be wrong to look at the state of the teams now. It’s such a long time until the spring playoffs, Pasanen emphasizes.
– Real Madrid’s players already played a key role last season. It weighs more in the balance for me than Kane’s arrival at Bayern.
However, the number one favorite is still Manchester City.
– There is so much persistence in the team. No gang has marched past it this summer. It’s a logical thing to pursue.