Champions League is getting more and more exciting

Champions league - Ảnh 1. — PSG (center) always faces a difficult schedule - Photo: Reuters

This is also the second season since the European Football Federation (UEFA) made a major reform of the competition format. And it has given fans a headache.

Fans are familiar

But everything has to have a beginning. UEFA was extremely brave when it broke the "symmetry" rule that had existed for decades. Instead, they applied the "Swiss formula", often used in the tournament scheduling format... chess. The result was that when the Champions League group stage was almost over, many fans still... did not understand anything.

But by the second year, the feeling of confusion had passed a lot. Fans began to understand some important changes of the new Champions League format. This included each team playing 8 group stage matches instead of 6 as before, and there would be no home-and-away format in the group stage or a play-off round after the group stage...

As for the football teams, they have nothing to complain about anymore as this new reform has helped increase the prize money for each participating team by about 25 - 50%, not to mention ticket sales, match revenue... The match schedule is more dense but revenue has increased sharply, and the football teams can no longer complain.

Champions league - Ảnh 2. — Real Madrid will face Marseille in the early morning of September 17 - Photo: REUTERS

Complex problem

In the second season, what has changed in the Champions League landscape? A lot, because the schedule in this format is extremely complicated, each season creates thousands of new variables. But overall, the challenge for every team remains the same.

Take PSG for example. Last season they had to face Arsenal, Atletico, Bayern Munich and Man City. 4/8 of PSG's opponents were big clubs, not to mention 2/4 of the remaining teams were also clubs from Germany and Spain.

This season, PSG will have an even tougher time as they have to face two Bundesliga (Germany) representatives, Bayern Munich and Leverkusen, two La Liga (Spain) teams, Barca and Bilbao, two Premier League (England) teams, Tottenham and Newcastle, and Atalanta from Italy. 7/8 of their matches are very "tough".

That is PSG's fate in every Champions League season from now on because they come from Ligue 1. UEFA rules that teams from the same federation will not have to face each other in the group stage. This rule generally benefits representatives from the Premier League or La Liga - where there are many strong teams, and makes the "heavy" match schedule fall on teams from France, Portugal...

Before their run in the knockout stages last season, PSG were on the verge of being eliminated in the group stage. That threat will continue to be present this season, as PSG cannot afford to be complacent in any of their group stage matches.

Overall, the new format is not "easy" for any big team. The only comfortable point is the play-off round, as this is an opportunity to make amends for teams that did not play well in 3-4 matches of the group stage. Last season, Man City only won 3, drew 2 out of 8 matches - with a total of 11 points, still able to get a ticket to the play-off round. The price they had to pay was facing a strong opponent (Real Madrid last season).

It is difficult to plan a perfect strategy in such a complex format. Liverpool, who topped the group last year, were unlucky to face PSG in the round of 16. But third-placed Arsenal were fortunate to face a weak opponent.

And that is exactly what UEFA expects, a more unpredictable tournament will increase the appeal.

Schedule of notable matches on the night of September 16 and early morning of September 17 (Vietnam time):

- 11:45 p.m. September 16: Bilbao - Arsenal

- 2:00 a.m. September 17: Juventus - Dortmund, Real Madrid - Marseille, Tottenham - Villarreal

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/champions-league-moi-luc-mot-hap-dan-20250916084649758.htm