UEFA Champions League

Yea it’s the 2022 final :gunnersaurus:

In the future the CL final will be played on the moon, so at some stage we’re going to have to get used to the possibility of it not being in Europe.

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Great article on the absolute nonsense that is European Football right now.

Agree wholly with scrapping 3rd place teams in the Group Stage dropping into the Europa League. Not sure if I agree with him on removing seeding. I think putting all league winners in the first pot has done enough to remove most of the imbalances. The group stages look really interesting this year because of that.

One thing I would like to see (not sure if the article mentions this as I only briefly read it) would be scrapping the rule that teams from the same nation can’t meet until the Quarter-Final. It just seems to benefit the top leagues and does little in the way of entertainment.

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Nah I disagree, the allure of the CL (to me at least) is to compete with Europe’s finest, not the same old English sides. The top teams generally end up facing each other at some stage in both domestic cups so it’s less special, whereas Arsenal haven’t played Madrid or Juventus competitively since 2006 I believe so if we had a CL knockout against either side it would be a special occasion. To be “in Europe” but playing at Anfield feels a bit pointless to me, especially now CL qualification is a rare luxury rather than a constant like it has been the last 20 years.


Also, as crazy as it sounds I think I’ve actually become the only person in the world for the third place sides dropping into the Europa.

I think the whole competition is a farce, for teams that are not good enough for Europe’s actual competition, so if that’s the criteria why not also accommodate teams unable to get out of the group stage of the CL? Being the 3rd best team in a CL group being qualifying criteria isn’t any worse to me than being the 5th, 6th or even 7th best team in the PL.

Arsenal would have most likely strolled to the trophy if not for a quality team like Atletico showing up. Sure it fucked us royally and kept us out of the CL, but the competition was richer for it. If it became a competition only for the mediocre teams that enter at the start then it will be a much worse competition in the later stages.

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Yeah I 100% agree I don’t mind the 3rd place teams dropping to the Europa round of 32, when you look at the list of teams in Europa as things stand it’s bang average, 3 or 4 quality sides from the CL make the competition more entertaining.

Don’t have a big faith in Inter to stop Tottenham, seeing how poor they are atm. A draw would already be good.

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What the hell has happened to the timing of these champion’s league games?!

It’s abhorrent

Apparently teams from the same association can no longer kick off at the same time.

Lol they haven’t quite gone that crazy yet.

It’s all about the money :money_mouth_face: They want to boost viewing figures internationally and therefore increase revenue.

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It’s brilliant! Means you can watch two games a night now instead of just the one

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Agreed! Much better set-up this. Watch one game during dinner then one after dinner with a few beers. Can’t complain (though my girlfriend probably will, but who cares)

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Not for the majority of home fans across Europe who finish work at a normal time it’s not. Gonna be difficult to get to games without having to take time off.

UEFA would love you though. They were hoping to disguise their “we want to make more money from the Africa and Asia market” plan as a “we’re of the people, we just want those lucky folk who are home by 6pm to be able to watch 2 matches on TV, we’re being nice” plan :smiley:

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Well that doesn’t concern me so I don’t really care about that haha.

Home for 17.40 then two CL games. Great night ahead :sunglasses:

It’s an absolute disgrace for working class fans that probably finish work at 5pm then face a real shit fight to get to the stadium, but since when is sport about the fans.

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If we’re going to be pernickety, actual working class fans often have an earlier start at work and are therefore finished earlier :wink:

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I suppose so. It’s a bugger if you work til 6pm and have 40 odd minute journey home though, haha

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Even when we were on at 6pm last season, I didn’t bother with loading the laptop and watching the match. Kinda took the love out of it, just watching the 2nd half.

Anyway, I hope PSG smash Liverpool tonight. The Scousers need a rude awakening

I might put a bet on how long it takes the commentator to question if Neymar and co can handle Anfield’s “special” atmosphere.

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Looking forward to the Ajax game tomorrow! Oh and fuck Liverpool and their special atmosphere.

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