Only Man City’s meltdown has saved Champions League – new format has been an ocean of filler to TV schedules
Only Man City’s meltdown has saved Champions League – new format has been an ocean of filler to TV schedules
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ONLY Manchester City’s meltdown has saved tonight’s Champions League bonanza from becoming the mother of all damp squibs. When Uefa revealed their grand plan for one monster 36-club league to replace the group phase, this was supposed to be a red-letter night.
![[Pep Guardiola looking dejected on a football pitch.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/editorial-use-no-use-unauthorised-966612452.jpg?strip=all&w=772)
With 18 matches kicking off simultaneously, it was a feast of football, enough to melt the remote controls of goggle-eyed supporters across the continent. And yet only City’s clash with Club Brugge holds true jeopardy for both clubs. Etihad boss Pep Guardiola’s fallen Premier League champions need to win, while their Belgian opponents need a draw to avoid elimination.
![[Champions League trophy.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2024-general-view-trophy-ahead-928428368.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Had this been a normal campaign for City, there would be little English interest in tonight’s proceedings. Instead, Pep’s men have lost at Sporting Lisbon, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain while squandering a three-goal lead at home to Feyenoord, so it is ‘game on’ in Manchester.
This new format — the most-hyped ‘Swiss model’ since Ursula Andress stepped out of the sea in Dr No — was supposed to make it nigh-on impossible for Europe’s richest clubs to fail to progress to the knockout phase. Yet City have contrived to make a serious hash of it all and ended up in the elimination zone along with the usual suspects from Eastern Europe and the Alps.
And the prospect of elimination for the 2023 European champions is the only true intrigue in the mammoth fixture list. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS. We’ve had 126 matches and in essence it’s been an ocean of largely meaningless filler content for the TV schedules.
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