Today, in things that had never happened until Covid-19 appeared in our lives: the Champions League that will begin less than two months after the final of the previous edition was played.
Although good, in reality it should be pointed out that this Champions League, with its succession of exotic previous rounds - those that allow clubs from Estonia, Luxembourg or Malta to dream - started on August 8, a day after Real Madrid left. eliminated in the round of 16 by M
anchester City.
Ignoring that cataract of matches between teams from the most alternative Europe, the fact is that the group stage of the 2020/21 Champions League will begin on Tuesday, a month and 26 days after Bayern defeated PSG in the Champions League final. 2019/20, held at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.
As a synthesis, the most hackneyed expression of recent months: never seen before. In this time, there has been a transfer market that, however, has not changed much the appearance of the main candidates to lift the Champions League on May 29, 2021 at the Atatürk Istanbul, the stadium originally planned to host the final of the last edition.
The teams of the five major leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France) invested some 5.5 billion euros in transfers in the summer of 2019, while in the last market they reduced their investment to 3,300, a fall of 40 %, especially pronounced in Spain and Germany.
For the first time since 2016, no one has spent more than 100 kilos on a footballer and the record investment of the summer, Chelsea's 80 million for
Kai havertz
, it is only the 20th most expensive operation in the history of football.
Chelsea, the most buyer
All these data do not imply that the Champions League is worse than other years, as the great players will continue to play it, but it does suggest that it will be more similar than ever to the one immediately before.
Of the great favorites, only Chelsea - after a year without being able to sign due to a FIFA sanction - has made a great effort to reconfigure its squad, with the arrivals of the aforementioned
Havertz
,
Werne
r,
Ziyech
,
Chilwell
Y
Thiago silva
.
Still in England, Liverpool have only made two quality touches, with Thiago and Jota;
City has settled for propping up the defense with
Ruben Dias
Y
Aké
, in addition to the arrival of
Ferran torres
;
and United incorporates players without the band of fixed holders, such as
Telles
,
Van de beek
and the veteran Cavani.In Spain, what is already known: nothing in Madrid except
Odegaard
, little at Barça with
Dest
Y
Pjanic
, Suárez as a great novelty at Atlético, and
Oscar
Y
Rakitic
to fill the void that leaves
Banega
at Sevilla.
More of the same at PSG, with
Danilo Pereira
to shore up the core, and at Dortmund, which does not present relevant news but maintains its young and ambitious block, with
Haaland
and Sancho at the head.
Sané, to Bayern
Bayern, current champions, does present the important novelty of
Leroy Sané
, whom they had been chasing for many years, while Juventus, now captained by Andrea Pirlo, has been reinforced with
Morata
,
Arthur
,
Chiesa
Y
McKennie
.
At Inter,
Vidal
Y
Achraf
are the big news and Leipzig is reinforced with
Hwang
Y
Kluivert
to fill the void left by Werner. They are, in any case, names to complement squads more than great stars, except in specific cases such as Suárez, Havertz or Werner himself.
Nothing to do with the signings of the previous summer:
Hazard, Joao Félix, Griezmann, Lukaku
... Neither in the benches there have been great changes.
Of the teams mentioned, only Barcelona and Juventus have a new coach this season.
It will continue to be the Champions of the
Flick, Klopp, Zidane, Guardiola, Simeone, Tuchel, Favre, Lampard ...
And, with all these ingredients, who is the favorite to win the Champions League?
According to the main sports betting houses, Bayern, City and Liverpool are, in that order, those who have the most options to lift the Orejona in May.
Behind them, quite a distance from the first three, appear PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus, and already far behind, Atlético, Chelsea, United, Inter and Dortmund.
Among the great absentees of this edition are Tottenham, Arsenal -not all English people fit-, Naples, Milan, Benfica, Leverkusen, Valencia, Lyon, Monaco ... All of them, except for the last three, will compete in the Europa League which starts on Thursday, with the presence of Villarreal, Real Sociedad and Granada as representatives of Spanish football. The consequences of the global pandemic that we all suffer from both competitions are united.
The greatest fear of UEFA, of course, is that they can be developed as normally as possible, a complicated objective, since in the top competition there are teams from 16 different countries, each with different epidemiological situations, restriction measures and limitations .
In the Europa League, the figure rises to 26. Even within the same country the rules are not the same, as in Spain. As a general rule, matches will be played as long as the teams have available 13 players from their List A and the local health authorities do not prevent it.
UEFA will be able to reschedule matches or directly consider them lost, with the obligation that the group stage ends before 20 January.
If this proves impossible, the European body will be able to decide which teams have access to the direct qualifiers.
For now, the classic competition format is maintained, although everything is subject to change.
The problems that the Euroleague basketball is going through, with several games suspended due to the coronavirus this week, put UEFA on notice.
Public, yes or no
It will also be a special Champions for the different policies on the presence of the public in the stadiums.
The organizer allows, for the moment, a maximum of 30% capacity, but everything is at the expense of the decisions of the local health authorities.
In England and Spain, public access to the stadiums is still not allowed -Barça and Real Sociedad have already requested it from their autonomous governments for their continental commitments-, while in other countries the approval has already been given to entry limited audience: Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands ... A disadvantage for Spanish and English, as it has been shown that the presence of public in stadiums, even if it is minimal, significantly favors teams that play at home.
To see the Bernabéu, Anfield, Old Trafford or the Camp Nou overflowing with the public, we will still have to wait .. But the Champions League is still the Champions League, the best, even if it is a cake.
world football club competition.
Let the show begin.
And the cakes.
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