Man City v Real Madrid or Bayern? That’s the ‘jeopardy’ you craved

Editor F365
The new Champions League.
The new Champions League.

Manchester City will face Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the Champions League play-off. How can you not like this format?

Send your views to theeditor@football365.com

 

The Big Question
It’s a nice goal from Kovacic, but why are his shorts always pulled up to his tits?
Lewis, Busby Way

 

Why did UEFA fix what wasn’t broken?
They think we are fools, don’t they?

While UEFA claims that this format increases competition, it seems to overcomplicate what was already a well-structured and widely appreciated tournament (Lol, hear me out). The traditional group stage allowed for a more balanced competition, ensuring teams had a clear and fair pathway to qualification. Under the new system, the additional matches in the league phase place undue strain on clubs, particularly those with smaller squads, and could result in fixture congestion that affects domestic competitions.

Moreover, the introduction of the play-off round for teams finishing 9th to 24th in the league phase adds unnecessary complexity. The advantage given to the 9th–16th placed teams in hosting the second leg seems arbitrary, and it further reduces the unpredictability that made the knockout stages of the previous format so exciting (Lmao no, really).

This new format appears to prioritize commercial interests over sporting merit, with more matches designed to maximize broadcasting revenue rather than ensuring fair and competitive football. Fans have always cherished the Champions League for its drama and simplicity—why fix what wasn’t broken?
Gaptoothfreak87, Man. Utd., Somewhere on Earth

READ: Man City set for clash with Euro giants after saving Champions League format from itself

 

UEFA just being weird
Well done to City last night, looked like they all had a massive fry up before kick off judging by the first half performance, all’s well that ends well once it was digested a bit.

But the main thing about tonight is what’s all this nonsense about pairing teams next to each other in the league table for who they play next? How does that make any sense or make anything better? Either make 9th play 24th and so on or just do a random draw. How does having a draw when there are only 2 options add any excitement?

They’ve gone beyond being corrupt money grabbers and are now being plain weird.
Andy, Cheshire

 

Why there are options on the draw…
Like your writers, I was initially wondering why there is a draw now for those in the UCL play-offs – i.e. why Man City will play one of Real Madrid / Bayern Munich – but it actually makes sense.

It stops teams in the final day of the group stage trying to game a result – e.g. knowing they want to play against 10th, so playing for a draw so they finish 23rd. This way there is always some uncertainty, so it stops teams trying to target / manufacture who they play against in the play-off round.

I know, it would have been difficult to do easily, but we could all imagine a team being told on 80 minutes ‘Man City are 22nd, Stuttgart are 23rd – so we need to score an own goal to avoid Man City!’ and mocking the system.

The lack of certainty of next round opponents prevents this.

James Milner 4eva
Jonny Kay

 

You wanted jeopardy? This is jeopardy…
Funny how people were saying the new format would have no jeopardy, and yet one of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Man City will fail to make the last 16. That has never happened to Madrid or Bayern in the Champions League era (since the last 16 was introduced). It’s not happened to City since they became good (or evil, depending on your point of view). Seems like good Jeopardy to me.
Mike, LFC, Dubai

 

…I would love to know your thoughts on the CL now?

What a cracking night of football, twists and turns, goals galore, everything you want from football in general.

And to top it off, some big boys will not be going through, so there’s the jeopardy you have consistently complained about being missing from this new iteration… (City vs Bayern or Real as a knockout tie this early on is an amazing outcome for the neutral)

But forget all that!

What a night at Villa Park!! Top 8 finish to avoid a play-off game, 6 goals, Ollie ignoring the outrageous bid from Arsenal to register a goal and two assists (and going full Beckham with his penalty!), Rogers proving to be a ridiculous steal with a CL hat-trick, Celtic giving everything, Schmeichel playing like his dad incarnate… Magical stuff.

Through to the round of 16 in our first foray in the Champions League. What a wonderful feeling😍
Nik, UTV

READ: Watkins is the Havertz of Aston Villa as huge win should rule out second Arsenal d*ck move

 

Why did Arsenal wait so long?
I’m writing in following the news that Arsenal have bid 60m for Ollie Watkins, 29 days into the transfer window. Can anybody with knowledge of this stuff explain why clubs leave it so late in the window to bid for players, rather than bringing them in early and benefitting from them during the busy month of January?

What exactly was stopping Arsenal from deciding on a list of transfer targets in, say, November, using December to negotiate for them and then then bringing them into the club on the first day of January? Same goes for Spurs, the fact that Levy didn’t have a centre back, left back and attacker lined up and ready to come in and help his manager on the day the transfer window opened is utterly criminal.

Arsenal have played 8 games in January, a significant chunk of a season. If they’ve had the funds to sign a striker all along, why have they deprived themselves of the chance to play him in those eight games?
Keith B

 

Please do something, Raheem
Well, he looks (his running style – I know this makes me a Nazi) and acts like an useful idiot (substitute player). Bloody hell he is a sympathetic footballer. I always want him to succeed when he is on the pitch. His career and everything. But when in doubt… do something. Compare the body language of Jorginho and Sterling when taking the penalty against Girona.
Gooner Riho from Estonia
P.S. Hein is our GK future 🙂

 

Only real argument v the new format
It’s the last matchweek of UCL today, and I figured it’s a good time to share some thoughts on the new format so far. There are obviously opinions for and against, so it makes me wonder whether this change was good for football in general or not.

Before I start, I’d like to mention that I’m personally not on any side yet, as I think it would be more fair to judge this new format once it reaches the last 16 round, where we’ll be able to tell how predictable and/or exciting it’s been up to that point and if all those extra games were actually of any worth or meaning.

So, to begin with, the plus side.

More games mean more football (duh) for us fans to watch.

More games against different opponents gives an element of surprise we didn’t really have in the previous format of 4 team groups.

More games mean more money for our favourite club.

More games mean that better teams will end up making it through in the end, as it takes away some of the luck in the longer run

In an ideal world, more matches against “weaker teams” might mean more UCL minutes for youngsters of elite clubs, which will obviously lead to better development of young talents. Even the very successful teams (think LFC in 2025) might use the opportunity of qualifying with games to spare, to give minutes to younger players and rotate their squad.

Now, let’s focus on the downsides.

The most obvious one, more games mean more workload for players, which naturally leads to more injuries.

More games mean the actual big clashes don’t really have a lot of consequences for the losers in the new format.

More games mean more games against minnows too, which might make the content less exciting, to the average fan at least.

This is more or less my for and against list.

Some recent articles have generally criticized the new format but i think that some of the arguments were unfair.

Like that it favors the big clubs for example. Of course bigger clubs will have more games where they’re the favorites, so as we mentioned, the luck factor disappears a bit and there are less surprises. But still, said clubs still need to win their games, and you can only beat what’s ahead of you. Man City has to beat Southampton to win the EPL, so why is it wrong if they have to beat Brugges to qualify?

Also, the knock out playoff is an extra way for a big club in bad form to make the last 16, but at the same time, it’s a knockout game they have to win, against a team that is on a similar form to them against similar opposition.

In reality, I feel that the only argument against the new format is more injuries. That could be fixed with larger squads, which especially the bigger clubs could theoretically afford.

I also feel that the knockout has the potential to produce massive clashes and epic upsets with the way teams are seeded. Imagine a matchup of Man City – Real Madrid, or Bayern – PSG where one of them has to miss out on the last 16.

So, all in all, it seems like elite clubs have more opportunities to succeed, but also to fail. I’m really curious what others think of it.

Enjoy the evening everyone!
Tsamal MUFC (If we qualify I don’t care if we have to play 20 games to the last 16!!)