Things that this article is NOT hating on…
Quality of Champions League Competition
The quality of play and excitement exhibited during this week’s Round of 16 reverse fixtures was not bad. Quite the opposite. While I’m not happy that Liverpool were eliminated (disclosure: not a supporter, but I wanted Slot to get the treble in his first season), I cannot reasonably argue that it was undeserved. PSG were outstanding; Liverpool not so much. That happens.
The final match-up between Real and Atlético was one of the best 120+ minutes of non-scoring soccer I’d seen in a while. The Metropolitano stadium was so loud it registered on the Richter scale. Curse you, double-touch rule!
The other fixtures might not have been thrilling, but they certainly weren’t dull. I think most people thought Arsenal would pip PSV. But nobody expected eleven goals over two games. While Gary Striker was starstruck by his man-crush on Bayer Leverkusen, the real world watched a ruthless Bayern Munich dispatch an inferior opponent.
The New Swiss Format
While initially skeptical, I admit that I really liked the new qualification format they used this year. There were some outside-the-box matchups and eyebrow-raising victories for smaller clubs. Sure, the larger pool meant there were some teams that couldn’t hold muster, but that happens every year. The addition of a playoff knockout put additional pressure on the middle-of-the-pack and gave the high performing teams a real reward (two games rest) for their excellence. The unpredictability of draws led to two giants getting eliminated early. This was a huge improvement over before.
What I am hating on…
So with all this competitive excellence, thrilling knock-outs and excitement, we look at the quarterfinals and see…
The Usual Suspects
I get it. Excellence has a habit of repeating itself. And the line-up might not be as predictable as previous years since that aforementioned format shake-up led to the early elimination of perennial powerhouses Manchester City and Atlético Madrid. All the same, these four clubs (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and PSG) have appeared in 37.5% of ALL the Champions League quarterfinal slots over the past ten years. That’s a lot.
Despite their household name status, Arsenal and Inter Milan have only progressed to the quarterfinals once in the past ten years. Borussia Dortmund, last year’s runner-up, have only made it twice, but those are quite recent. And we do have a debutante! Welcome to the most exclusive party in Europe, Aston Villa. They don’t serve lager here, only champers.
