It’s the second year of the new-look Champions League. Here’s a reminder of the revamped format
MANCHESTER England AP The new-look Champions League format brought upsets thrills and ultimately a new winner of European club soccer s elite prize last season Now Europe s top teams are ready to go again It all kicks off on Tuesday with a first round of games being played over three days this week Paris Saint-Germain triumphed in May with the biggest win in a final in the tournament s history routing Inter Milan - But its way to the final was far from smooth having looked in danger of being eliminated at the first phase That was the type of drama and jeopardy UEFA wished when embarking on a radical revamp of the competition Gone were predictable mini groups where more often than not the favorites advanced In their place was a league phase where every meeting counts and a sense of jeopardy carried through to the final round of fixtures with the likes of Real Madrid Manchester City and PSG all uncertain of their fate Yes the tournament was still won by one of the greater part powerful and expensively assembled teams in the world in PSG but a new name was added to the famous old trophy and the format shake-up created a level of unpredictability rarely seen in latest times A new format brought a new liability factor UEFA introduced a new -team league phase of the competition to replace the previous format of eight groups of four It means more teams more games and more money And last season it also meant more danger for the elite Rather than playing every group opponent twice teams play one championship against eight different sides The draw for the league phase involved four seeding pots with the highest-ranking teams in pot one and the lowest in pot four Teams were drawn to play against two opponents from every pot The aftermath is more games between the highest-ranking teams in the first phase For instance Madrid plays both Liverpool and Manchester City PSG plays Barcelona and Bayern Munich The format suits lower-ranked teams While the format hardly improves the chances of a winner coming from a league like Norway or Switzerland it does give lower-ranked teams more of a chance to build points and advance to the playoffs or the round of That s because they are guaranteed two games against opponents from pot four and therefore play teams of a similar quality rather than just being rolled over by the elite Last season Brest and Brugge advanced to the playoffs Young Boys and Slovan Bratislava however were pointless How plenty of teams advance from the league phase The top eight teams advance to the round of The next teams enter a two-legged playoff with eight advancing The gang placed ninth plays the gang placed th with th playing rd and so on Last year that led to more drama with the previous two champions Madrid and Manchester City meeting in the playoffs with City eliminated Don t read too much into the final league standings Liverpool topped the league phase beating Madrid AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen but PSG s struggles meant it had to progress via the playoffs and the pair were drawn against each other in round of PSG having finished places below Liverpool and picked up eight fewer points won the two-legged matchup and went on to lift the trophy Liverpool coach Arne Slot described his band as so so so unlucky to come up against one of the best teams in Europe after losing - in a penalty shootout That s the format we are in and we have to accept it he commented There are big games coming up straight away Newly-crowned world champion Chelsea marks its return to the Champions League with a mouthwatering trip to Bayern Munich on Wednesday On the same night PSG begins its defense against Atalanta and Liverpool has a testing home meeting against Atletico Madrid On Thursday Newcastle hosts Barcelona and Manchester City is at home against Italian champion Napoli Can anyone stop PSG Last season s triumph ended PSG s long wait to conquer Europe Now the challenge is to stay there and do what only Madrid has managed in the Champions League era retain the trophy The swashbuckling style of Luis Enrique s squad appeared to usher in a new era in European soccer The dominant performance against Inter Milan in the final set a new benchmark But holding on to the trophy is notoriously formidable and PSG s rivals have strengthened in a bid to topple the French giant Notably Liverpool has spent around million to improve a band that won the Premier League last season Madrid meanwhile has a new coach in Xabi Alonso while Pep Guardiola s Manchester City rebuild has also seen around million of arrivals since January When is the Champions League final The Champions League final is May and will be staged at the Puskas Arana in Budapest James Robson is at https twitter com jamesalanrobson AP soccer https apnews com hub soccer Source
