The one thing to remember with this new Champions League, if you actually managed to register the vast list of fixtures quickly presented on the screen, is that we won't truly know how it works until it's actually played.
It might work well. Uefa feel the modelling has been successful, and yesterday’s draw has thrown up some exciting games, with storylines. Some of the last five finals are being replayed, including Real Madrid-Liverpool. The Reds also face Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen, as Arsenal host Mikel Arteta’s former club in Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa get to replay their victorious 1982 final against Bayern Munich.
There are certainly more games between wealthy clubs, which is of course the reason why we’re all here. This format was agreed the morning after the ill-fated Super League was launched in April 2021, and it was the very threat of that plan that essentially forced Uefa into this in the first place.
It weighed over everything, to the point the two words were almost said. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was about to describe the competition as Aleksander Ceferin’s Super League in a bizarre promo video, only for the Uefa president to theatrically cut him off. Even before that, there were the coded digs at one of the chief architects of the Super League, in former Juventus head Andrea Agnelli. Awards were given to Gigi Buffon, one of the Italian club’s greatest legends, and Cristiano Ronaldo, the player Agnelli specifically signed to try to move Juve into a higher sphere. Buffon described this as the most important club competition, while Ronaldo had a starring line pressing the gameshow-style button that revealed the software’s pick of fixtures.
There was still a moment when it looked like the fixtures came up a millisecond before the button was pushed, maybe giving away it was just there for show.
この記事は The Independent の August 30, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Independent の August 30, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Kyrgios to return but keeps focus on Sinner and Swiatek
Nick Kyrgios just wants to speak his truth, man. He does, after all, have his own podcast to go along with his blue tick on X/Twitter, where he is not afraid to add a hot take or two to the big topics. It's hardly a new development.
Slot eyes strong second half as Reds dream of quadruple
Arne Slot did not use the word, though Jurgen Klopp became quite familiar with it.
Isak stars as Newcastle expose Arsenal's failings
A night that was about whether you could take your chances; for goals, and maybe for finals.
Britons splurge £13bn on festive fun – but inflation may leave a nasty hangover
UK retail outlet Next has posted another rise in sales ahead of expectations over the Christmas period, but warned that a price increase is on the cards for 2025 as it looks to overcome raised costs following last year's Budget.
Next posts rise in sales but warns of difficult year ahead
UK retail outlet Next has posted another rise in sales ahead of expectations over the Christmas period, but warned that a price increase is on the cards for 2025 as it looks to overcome raised costs following last year's Budget.
Carney failed to stop Brexit but hopes to save Canada
Mark Carney may enter the race to succeed Justin Trudeau as leader of Canada's Liberal Party.
Trump fails to rule out use of force to take Greenland
US president-elect Donald Trump has refused to rule out using military or economic action to pursue acquisition of the Panama Canal and Greenland.
At least 126 dead in Tibet after powerful earthquake
A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck the foothills of the Himalayas yesterday near one of Tibet’s holiest cities, killing at least 126 people and flattening hundreds of houses and causing tremors felt in Nepal, Bhutan and India.
Far-right firebrand's ghost will loom large over Europe
The death of Jean-Marie Le Pen should give us a moment to ponder the long march of the French far right and the rise to power of fascistic parties across Europe.
French far-right political leader Le Pen dies at 96
Unrepentant bigot and Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen founded the National Front and fought for populist policies
