Bloated Champions League is like watching Harlem Globetrotters - and not in a good way, writes MATT BARLOW
Bloated Champions League is like watching Harlem Globetrotters - and not in a good way, writes MATT BARLOW
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Meaningfulness should return to European football this week as the rambling and incoherent first phase finally winds to a close. A grand total of 126 games played already and the Champions League boils down to whether Manchester City can beat Club Bruges at home or whether Paris Saint-Germain might come a cropper in Stuttgart.
![[It has been a struggle for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in Europe but qualification remains in their own hands as they aim to beat Club Bruges at home this week]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/26/16/94534245-14327109-image-a-1_1737908589236.jpg)
There’s a bit more going on in the Europa League but there always is and that’s about where the intrigue ends. Some clubs might have a playoff round they’d rather avoid but all bar 12 of the 36 teams live to fight another day. It seems like lots more jetting around Europe for no reason to me, although I’m aware there’s a lot of love for it, particularly emanating from the world of TV where giddy pundits, including some of the most influential voices in football, shower us with overenthusiasm.
![[Barcelona star Raphinha celebrates scoring a 96th-minute as he side beat Benfica 5-4]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/26/16/94534273-14327109-image-m-10_1737909515811.jpg)
Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards are high on the new dawn. Gary Lineker is enraptured by the novel concept that it’s nearly February and Celtic are still in it. The normally sensible Ally McCoist is seven match-days deep and woozily confessing to finding the whole thing slightly more attractive than he expected.
![[Aston Villa sit just outside the automatic qualification spots after their defeat by Monaco]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/26/16/94534309-14327109-image-a-12_1737909694866.jpg)
This is, lest we forget, a format designed for TV. Those who own TV companies or work for them are bound to find it to their liking. As will those who consume their football by TV. Celtic have benefited from the new format, finding themselves still in Europe come February.
![[The format has been lapped up by the likes of Amazon Prime - anchored here by Gabby Logan]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/26/16/94534371-14327109-image-a-5_1737908838852.jpg)
