Mandatory preamble these days. We would have preferred never to have had to know this formula, preferred to see the final of the Champions League in Istanbul as it was originally planned, in short, you understood the idea, crap virus, all that. Once the health issue has been removed, what remains? A fine winner, Bayern Munich, and an extremely promising new tournament. UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin, who had hitherto tried to hammer home that yes, it was a one-shot and no, don't dream, we won't do it again, ended this weekend by opening the door to the democratization of a Final 8 type format in the future. Even if that means fewer games and therefore less money to put in the pockets.
"We were forced to do it, but at the end of the day, we realize we have something good," Ceferin admits, quoted by Reuters. We will think about it for the future. »Hoping that he is telling the truth and not saying that until the emotion subsides and we forget. Because if there is someone like Jérôme Rothen for whom "the European Cup is the round trip", we really liked it. Because :
- The tension of knockout matches has a flavor of the World Cup or the Euro.
- Bayern's 8-2 against Barça took us six years back to Mineirão.
- In this format, Rudi Garcia can take out Pep Guardiola.
- In this format, Paris can take out Barcelona and Manchester United.
- On a match, the favorites can come out on a misunderstanding.
- The bubble in which the teams live creates solidarity in the locker room. And football is first and foremost about people. So it is beautiful. So we say yes.
- It allows you to have lots of supporters from different places in the same place.
- It would lighten the schedule of the players, these convicts of the ball.
- It would sign the death sentence for this aberration that is the goal on the outside.
- It would allow us to play the old ones with the younger ones by telling them "you know, me, I have known the first leg matches in the Champions League, and it was not the same story. "
There are surely others. But all we know is that the players liked it, the coaches too. So UEFA gentlemen, don't mess around. Make this Final 8 not just an anomaly. Make us keep something positive from the apocalypse.
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PSG-Bayern Munich: Paris has displayed its limits and must still grow to take the leap
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