It’s a dreary December evening ahead of the final Champions League group-stage match of the season. Before every match, the competition’s iconic anthem will be played, with the lyrics reading: ‘The greatest, the best, the masters, the main event.’
Except for this round of fixtures, it won’t be ‘the best’ on show, nor will it be ‘the main event’. Because, on the most part, the top teams have already wrapped up qualification in the earlier fixtures and have zero reasons to risk their big-hitters.
At least, that’s how we used to have it. A sterile four-team group stage that barely ever flirted with producing the same sort of drama we saw unfold on the final night of the new format this week.
For starters, the seeding system in the old group-stage format separated the top teams from each other, making it impossible for them to face each other until the knockouts at the earliest. Now that’s a lack of jeopardy!
Take Arsenal for example. They were basically secure of a top-eight spot weeks ago, but by taking the final couple of league phase matches seriously, they’ve ensured all knockout second legs, should they make it, will be held at the Emirates Stadium.
If that isn’t an incentive, then what is? It eliminates the luck of the draw and gives teams who perform well in the first half of the competition a reward for their exploits later down the line.
By no means is it a perfect system. Going from six group stage matches to eight in the league phase was and is an oversight. But that’s a decision independent of the format itself. Just look at the Conference League for example, where they have six league phase matches and it works just as well.
Those who claim there is no jeopardy in the new format have either not been paying attention, or are just misunderstanding it. Top-eight qualification shouldn’t be viewed as a prize, it should be considered avoiding a punishment. And in the modern-day game, an extra two matches to the schedule is certainly a punishment you want to avoid.