Maybe just maybe the teams containing some of Europe’s best players must have lost to teams of even better players.
Seriously this is typical English exceptionalism that we get in football. There is something to be said for expanding the group stage to 24 or 32 but the Telegraph wouldn’t have written this if Manchester United and Arsenal hadn’t been knocked out in the qualifiers.
Hopefully UEFA will stick to their guns and privilege league champions over the high finishers of the richer leagues.
What i find interesting is that this is nothing new. Real madrid had to knock man city out in the qualifiers just to get to the gs 2 seasons in a row. Why the outrage now?
The “Champions” in Champions League is slightly more relevant in women’s football. But i think we’ll see format change in next year or soon. It’s inevitable for money.
What’s funny is though, the country that fought to destroy Super league (because of its elitism which is fair enough) has been crying non stop about UWCL format last 2 months. Why? Because Arsenal and ManUtd couldn’t beat teams from Paris.
It is, and it was an eye opener seeing so many of the teams you would expect to see both in the group stages and the later rounds being eliminated so early on.
It’s a tricky one. The current format is not a million miles away from the old European Cup method, something a lot would argue would benefit the men’s CL format. But, the women’s game is, in comparative, still in its infancy. You’d want the bigger stars to be at the business end to bring more eyes. More eyes equals more profile. More profile equals more commercial opportunities. More commercial opportunities equals more money put into the game.
But, you also don’t want to close shop, and have the same names reappear over and over again (much like the men’s CL).
It’s tricky, and I ain’t smart enough (or informed enough, given it’s only the last two seasons I’ve begun to watch the women’s side to this sport) to offer anything better. But those qualifying rounds are brutal. You have to be on it at a very early stage of the season. Maybe that’s an answer? Push these games back a month or two?