An unusually open group stage highlights the waning power of super-clubs and offers better football than what is to come
There is, perhaps, no better indication of how broken modern football is that the return of the Champions League group stages feels almost like a palate cleanser. With the Swiss system to be introduced in 2024, and plans afoot for increasingly bloated World Cups to be staged increasingly often, the Champions League format appears by comparison a model of modest efficiency.
Sure, most people who have paid even a passing interest over the past year could probably predict 16 clubs to qualify for the knockouts now and be sure of getting a dozen right, but it will take only 96 games to sort that out. Perspectives change. What recently seemed distended and tedious suddenly looks thrillingly streamlined. Some of these games will matter. The raclette has become a sorbet.