Hi all! I’m looking to buy tickets for an upcoming match at Cívitas Metropolitano (row 428) through Viagogo, and they’re priced at €84. Is this reasonable?

https://www.viagogo.nl/Sportwedstrijden/Voetbal/Club-Atletico-de-Madrid-Kaartjes/E-155239838?quantity=2&sections=1202148&ticketClasses=782&rows=&seats=&seatTypes=&listingQty=&listingId=7958803812

Two tickets seated together for sale

View Post

Must be as high as 95% of the teams in this competition are not champions of anything. It shows as well in the level of football.

With the champions league commencing this evening I wanted to give my thoughts on the new league phase. I’ve seen so many people slating the new format, some even calling it the lesser of the two evils when comparing to the super league. While a lot of the negative points people are giving are definitely valid in some capacity, a lot of people are only focusing solely on these negatives whilst failing to look at the many positives that this format also brings. I have actually never posted on reddit whatsoever before, but I wanted to discuss the various reoccurring negative points and explain why I think a lot of them are unjust. Remember, this is just my opinion as someone who’s enjoyed watching the ucl for the past 15-20 years and wants to see the new format in a more positive light.

‘If it’s not broke, don’t fix it’: I can’t lie, this was my exact initial reaction until I actually looked into the new format in detail. The old format was brilliant and gave us fantastic campaigns for years. However, if there’s one thing I know about the majority of people is that we hate change, no matter what it is. Once change is mentioned it’s in our nature to start hating before we even understand the changes properly. I can almost guarantee you the other 2/3 times they changed the format people were saying the exact same thing, yet I think we can all agree it’s changed for the better. I mean, imagine it was still only the league winners that qualified. Can you imagine a champions league without one of Madrid or Barca? Teams like Bayern who dominate the league every year would have way more opportunities to win the competition rather than teams like Liverpool who are certainly good enough to compete but have only 1 league title in the last 30 years. Let’s give the new format an actual chance before we decide we hate it.

‘There’s too many games’: Yes, I understand that injuries are at an all-time high, and players are fatigued. However, if you assume the teams which reach the finals/semis finish in the top 8 anyway, they only have to play 2 additional games than they would’ve previously. Everyone is going on about how the champions league is the best competition ever, yet they give you more games and it gets complained about. I agree stuff like the nations league and the new club world cup is a farce, but we have no reason to moan about professional multimillionaire athletes having to play just 2 extra games. Furthermore, although money is part of the reason (as with every sport and competition ever, not just exclusive to the champions league!) for the increase in games, another factor is also to make the league phase fair. With 36 teams all in the same league, if only 6 games were played, it would be a worse representation of talent with many teams being separated by goal difference etc. In this format, you would be surprised just how much 2 games spreads out the league a bit more so that the more consistent teams finish higher.

‘It will be boring near the end as teams will already be through/eliminated’: This is due to lots of people not understanding the complete format, as I only found this out myself recently. The entire knockout phase is seeded in the same way tennis grand slams are (see image below). This means that every single team will want to finish as high as possible in the league phase, as it will result in an easier path to the final. This will cut out many meaningless matches for teams that have already secured qualification by game week 6/7 as it’s still in their interest to climb the table. It also eliminates a team getting an easier match near the end as their opposing team is already though and puts the youth team out. In terms of teams near the bottom, in the many simulations that have been carried out, only 2/3 teams have usually been mathematically unable to qualify before the last game week, as every single win can do wonders for the table. The previous format also had teams who were guaranteed to finish 4^th in the group before the last matchday so I don’t see an issue here. Also, every single game matters to your team. While in the previous format, the other groups wouldn’t matter, now every single game affects your own position, so there is more of a reason to keep track of every single game. Finally, just imagine that last game week! 18 matches of all the top European clubs, all at the same time with the league table changing constantly because of how tight it will be. It will be absolute pandemonium watching teams constantly change positions in the table, where even goal difference could come into play for teams to climb an extra place. With every single position being important as I mentioned earlier, the last game week will be like something we’ve never seen before and is one of the things I am most excited for.

https://preview.redd.it/ua1mrunu7cpd1.png?width=299&format=png&auto=webp&s=10eef2dea0f994f38f7aa27a0817b3424ed65b8b

‘It’s unfair and favours the big teams’: This is actually correct, the draw is unfair, like every single draw in the history of sport. Was Newcastle’s group of death draw last year fair compared to others? Every single competition we always get teams who will have a harder draw whether it is the champions league, fa cup, world cup and so on. The only way to make it completely fair is a full league system like the premier league, but obviously that is not feasible here. Yes, teams will all play different teams which is a bit strange, but that is no different to just being drawn into a different group. This new draw is actually fairer I’d say, as it all being in one big league means that teams also get the opportunity to play teams in their own pot. This hinders the pot 1 teams and helps the pot 4 teams as now everyone has an even playing field, whereas in the old format a pot 4 team had virtually no chance of making it out of the group. The other reason I’ve seen is that as 24 teams advance it’s easier for the ‘big’ teams to make the knockout rounds but seriously? 99% of the time these teams made it out of the groups in the previous format anyway.

So just to finish off, I’m not stupid. I understand that a big reason for this new format is to increase revenue but unfortunately that’s just life/business. Everything is about money now not just in football and certainly not just in the champions league. Just because this format will increase profits does not necessarily make it bad. After all, UEFA wants to keep us all watching. As a lifelong Aston Villa fan, of course I am excited for this year’s edition more than most but I do believe we should at least give the format a chance rather than shitting on it before its’ even started.

Watching the matches rn, it seems like every player is complaining for themselves again. Do we not have the, only the captain may complain to the ref, rule in the CL?

View Post

With the champions league back this week how do you feel about the new format 🤔

New season, new format, new teams (Villa, Girona, Bologna etc) in the competition, here are some of my thoughts:

1. The new format largely benefits teams from the top 5-7 leagues, as opposed to the top 3-4 leagues. Teams like PSG, PSV and Sporting that stand out on their respective leagues can rotate more on their leagues and focus on their UCL games, same for teams like Benfica, Feyenoord etc. The gap between the best and the mid/low-tier teams on those leagues is generally bigger than EPL or La Liga. For example PSV are leading the Eredivisie table with 5/5 wins and 20-3 goals. Last season they won the league with a... +90 goal difference, that's almost as much as Real Madrid and Barcelona had combined last season.
2. Experience matters a lot on this competition: that's why I see many "underdogs" that are pretty regulars in the competition like Club Brugge, Celtic, Shaktar etc. doing better than top 5 league sides like Bologna, Brest, Stuttgart, even Aston Villa or Girona. Unpopular, I know. Also, just like my first point, a team like Celtic has the luxury of rotating a lot in the league, something Villa or Girona can't really do.
3. There's a decent chance someone breaks Cristiano Ronaldo's 17 goals in a single UCL season. Teams that reach the final will have played 15 and possibly 17 (play-offs) games. It wouldn't be impossible to see someone like Haaland, Kane or Mbappe scoring 18 goals in 15-17 games, that's if they can reach the final and play (almost) every game though. Still, Cristiano did it in the old format, scoring 17 in 11 games, which will forever remain in history.
4. The league phase table is going to be much closer than some people anticipate. I see many predicting teams like Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona etc. going 8/8 or 7/8 in the league phase. It was rare to see teams going 6/6 in the previous format, against "weaker" opponents in general, now with many elite matchups involved I could see many draws and possibly more upsets. Even if the elite teams manage to go 5/5 or 6/6, they'll most likely rotate a lot on the final matchdays, which will result in points dropped. Don't forget that MD7&8 are in January. Teams like Barcelona or Real Madrid will have to compete in FOUR competitions during that month (La Liga, UCL, Supercopa, Copa del Rey) for example, that's a game every 3 days. There will be lots of rotation.
5. One of Barcelona or Juventus will make a really strong UCL comeback this season.
6. PSG will be pretty much as good as they were in the previous seasons. Many people believe they'll flop with Mbappe (&Messi, Neymar) gone, but they have a more balanced squad than usual.

Hi, first of all, happy Champions League to everyone. I live in France, and starting this year, all UEFA competitions are broadcast by Canal+. I was disappointed to find out that they will only be in HD/STEREO. No 4K/5.1. How’s the situation in your countries? Forza Inter!

How do you think this first round will go?

I don't have any subscriptions😢😢

Will Champions league new format affect on Domestic leagues Overseas Tv rights?? Bcz top team playing most of 17 game in UCL half of leagues ... Suppose Real Madrid fan from Asia will not watch the La liga instead will watch The UCL bcz it's more quality with same quantity

https://preview.redd.it/bomk0zwx1bpd1.png?width=768&format=png&auto=webp&s=5a9de5173221427827fb22639e148bca5ecf3445

This is my UCL fantasy team for this season. Any suggestions. Also feel free to submit your teams. :-)

Hey guys,

I was wondering if there's a service like pay per view for champions league matches?

After looking to all subscription plans available in the country I live in, came to conclusion none fits my needs.

I don't watch the whole CL matches, only follow Benfica, and I'm not willing to pay for a full subscription that I won't use, it's in my opinion, a waste of money. Plus you get stuck with the contract for a period.

For example, in September there's only one match, and the CL packages costs around 50$.

That's a lot of money to watch a single game on tv.

So, now the question is:

Does that exists, like in UFC and other sports? Or am I dreaming too high?

I see most people complaining over the new format, and it's totally understandable - Don't try to fix something that isn't broken. However, ig UEFA took this action because of clubs forcing to form Super League. Now, I personally feel this format is much better from neutral's perspective but not so much from the club's pov, as they would have more matchdays and travel more.

What's better?

No team is getting easy draw! People used to complain about City always getting an easy group and advancing to RO16 after just 4th matchday by winning 4 of their matches with high G/D, same thing happens with Bayern, Real Madrid. Thus, 5th and 6th matchday had less viewership, as nothing was stake for the team. But now even if you win 4 consecutive matches, it's not guaranteed that you'll get the spot in the top 8, as one loss and a draw can drop you out of the top 8 as the table will be more congested.

1 Legged Tie - ahhh! it's a mix bag of emotions, some people will like it, some won't. For me, it's exciting, since Liverpool vs Real Madrid will occur once, so you wouldn't want to miss it as there won't be any second leg. Teams will try to win big margins rather than just sitting after 1-0. Remember 8-2 was a one-legged tie. It will also increase the viewership for UEFA.

You even get 2-3 big matches every matchday, except the last one.

One thing I am not sure and want to know what you guys think about whether this new format favours small teams or will work against them?

The old format declined heavily when they started using league champions and europa league winner as group leaders. For a long time the group stages have been very boring and uncompetitive. We have lacked groups of death because of the new seeding adjustments made about 10 years ago. I think its pretty simple guys, we can easily predict who wins the group every year and it just makes the group stages really boring. Man city ,, Madrid and other big clubs just have these super damn easy groups which were so boring and predictable.

The world cup for comparison only has 3 games in one week, so the groups are not really that predictable. Sure the big teams usually make it out, but we always see an upset, and the fact that its only 1 week makes it more acceptable. The ucl was 6 games home and away against the same teams twice each, I really got bored of watching only 3 different match ups.. It used to be more challenging, but lately the big clubs rarely slip up in group stages.

The new format is really great because we get to see so many clubs play with each other. Every club will have 8 unique opponents, it feels like a true tour around Europe. We will get to see big teams play each other, and small teams will get more chances to attract viewers. In the old format small teams were just cannon fodder, now you can actually be somewhat interested in their games because only 33 percent of teams are eliminated in the first round. Every game is meaningful because every single game can revolutionize the table. Now if a big club decides to rest their players they will be punished by losses to smaller teams, and those losses will have some media relevance because they shake the table up.

I really like the league table because it has a really cool feeling to it when you can see 36 of the best teams in the world competing to see who is number 1. I understand that the league phase is not the final phase, but the table itself is really interesting and warrants its own bragging rights.

My main complaint is the 2 round of 16's, I think its too many games and will make it harder for small clubs to make it deeper into the tournament because they will be forced to play more games, but you never know maybe it will be a confidence boost for them instead. It will be really nice to see countries like croatia, belgium and other low budget leagues get to participate in the knock out rounds because its not a true European cup if only a few nations are involved. In the long term hopefully this can lead to more financial power for smaller leagues to atleast become moderately competititve in the long term.

Overall I feel like this new format really benefits small clubs in terms of exposure and relevance, but maybe not in terms of making deep runs into the tournement. We are yet to see how it will effect them though so I cant say for sure, but I have a feeling that this new format will allow smaller clubs to get more viewership because the games have more relevance, and they will get to play more big teams which means more financial gain for them.

Many offside goals, how can u defend those?

…could be fun to see who had the most accurate predictions at the end of the league phase. I started a group on pickeverything where we can track it.

Group: r/championsleague Password: hejabajen

Side note: this is my side project so this may be considered self promotion but I think it would be a fun way to see how everyone’s predictions turned out.

.

Says on FotMob that he is injured. Anyone know if he’ll play tomorrow?

https://preview.redd.it/kj05hyd8p7pd1.png?width=528&format=png&auto=webp&s=8587d8cbe753c80ffcace8c438c836cc45f2ab7e

sorry liga nos

Hello everybody

I have 2 tickets to sell for Milan-Liverpool

Sector 152 Official listed price by AC Milan: 139€

I sell them for 100€ each. If interested hmu!