If last year, when the new Champions League began – which abandoned the eight groups in the classification phase (with four teams in each) and created a single group with 36 teams (four more in total) – I allowed myself to doubt whether the new formula was cool, now I have no doubt: I am convinced that it is.
At least in terms of the excitement reserved for Super Wednesday, which is this Wednesday (28th), with 18 matches played at exactly the same time (5pm Brasília time), it is difficult to dispute that the system is working, since of these 18 games only one is considered “not valid”.
With the “group”, which operates on a points system, 16 clubs, the first two in each group, no longer advance, as before, to the knockouts (round-trip eliminatory duels), but 24.
The eight best-placed teams secure a place in the round of 16 and gain two free dates (for rest and/or training), something highly valued in a calendar full of games.
Whoever finishes this phase (group) from 9th to 24th place enters a preliminary knockout that will classify eight to face the “off” teams who are already in the round of 16. While the calendar is tight, one more Champions League match at home provides a financial return, in terms of tickets and merchandising.
When, in a decisive round, only one of 18 matches is worthless, the competition proves to be successful. It may even be something one-off and this won’t happen again in 2027, but we live today, and today it’s working.
Which game is unimportant? Arsenal (first place, with 21 points, seven wins in seven matches) against Kairat (one draw and six defeats), 36th and last in the table.
The leader of the English Championship has already secured a position that allows him, if he advances, to play the return match from the knockout stages at home to the semi-finals, a great advantage – the final is in a single game. And the leader of the Kazakh Championship is eliminated.
In addition to Kairat, of the 36 participants, only three (Eintracht Frankfurt-ALE, Slavia Praga-TCH and Villarreal-ESP) will take to the field without a chance of qualifying.
In other words, of these three dozen teams, a mere five (not even half a dozen) will play uninterested, and the three mentioned in parentheses in the previous paragraph will face someone interested in something.
For 31 clubs, the super quarter game is worth something, more than in the last edition, at varying levels: maintaining a place in the eight, getting a place in the eight; maintain a place in the second tier (9th to 24th), obtain a place in that tier – among the latter is Napoli, current Italian champions, currently 25th in the group.
Even second place, highly ranked Bayern, with 18 points, has a stimulus: it needs at least a draw (in the Netherlands, against PSV, who in 22nd place is at serious risk of elimination if they don’t win) to obtain the same advantage that Arsenal secured (field control in the second leg until the semi-final).
If they fall to the Dutch champion, the Munich team could lose their position to Real Madrid (3rd), who visit Benfica, who even in 29th still have hope.
Everything is so evenly matched that Real (15 points), if defeated, could be overtaken by ten teams, who have 12, 13, 14 or 15 points, fall down the table and end the group in 13th place, without a direct place in the round of 16.
With so many possibilities, you can’t help but appreciate and defend the super quarter of the European Champions League.
The only complaint, which is not solvable, is that you can only watch one match carefully, as all 18 are at the same time – correctly, so that no club knows in advance the result of another’s game.
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