New Champions League format giving underdogs a sniff

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For those who aren’t aware, the UEFA Champions League competition has adopted a new format this year.

The old format was comprised of 32 teams from all over Europe. These teams then competed in a group stage, where eight groups with four teams each competed for the top two spots to progress to the round of 16 stage.

After the group stage a draw would take place to decide who plays whom. The teams that came first would play the teams that came second, and they couldn’t play a team from their national league.

From there the knockout stages would progress until ultimately a victor was crowned. From the quarter-final stage onwards, the tournament is the same, the round of 16 however works slightly different.

In the new ‘league phase’ the top eight sides automatically progress to the round of 16. Teams who finish between ninth and 24th play each other in a two-legged knockout bout to see who qualifies for the round of 16.

Teams placed between ninth and 16th are the ‘seeded’ teams and the teams between 16th and 24th are unseeded. Simply, the seeded teams play the unseeded teams to see who makes the knockout stages, and the seeded teams play the second leg at home, which is advantageous.

Now we are aware of the parameters of the tournament, what have we learnt so far?

Currently Liverpool FC are sitting pretty at the summit of the league phase, having won all six games they have played. They have been mightily impressive, beating the likes of Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen, whilst only conceding one goal.

We have also seen impressive campaigns from European giants such as Barcelona, Inter Milan, and Arsenal.

So, is this league phase harder for the smaller clubs? It appears not, after six games Real Madrid, last year’s champions have lost three of their games. PSG, French perennial champions have won just two games. RB Leipzig, with the likes of Xavi Simons and sought-after striker Benjamin Sesko have been eliminated having lost every single match.

To compound the misery of these large clubs, smaller clubs have been excelling.

The likes of Stade Brestois 29 and Aston Villa find themselves in the top eight. In the ninth to 24th places we see clubs such as Monaco, Club Brugge, Celtic, and GNK Dynamo, all clubs who in recent years have come last in their Champions League groups.

With two games to go, there are all sort of storylines emerging.

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Can Kylian Mbappe and co. get Real Madrid into the top eight, or even the top 16? Is there going to be an underdog story, can Celtic, or Brest, or Aston Villa go on a run and possibly be the inaugural winner of the new Champions League format?

I can envision it already, Real Madrid with their superstars turning up at Celtic Park and getting turned over in the second leg with 60,000 drunk and rowdy Celtic fans jeering.

This new format, whilst having obvious similarities to a ‘Super League’ was necessary. The old format was getting stale, the majority of the time the group stage was simply a formality. At least with this change, the jeopardy of a Champions League game feels palpable. Unless you are a Liverpool supporter.