The Champions League has witnessed drama in the final round of the qualifying round (League phase) when Benfica defeated Real Madrid in an unbelievable way to snatch the last ticket to the knockout round. They will meet Real Madrid again in the knockout round to find their way to the round of 16.
With the old group stage format, each team only meets 3 opponents in the outer round. Now, they will face 8 different teams before the knockout round. The excitement and unpredictability are pushed to a climax, this is an advantage.
This new format also restricts many procedural matches in the final round. If the teams win, they will earn more money and have an advantage in the later rounds. For example, Arsenal and Bayern Munich - the top two teams if they reach the semi-finals will play the second leg at home. For Arsenal alone, winning all 8 matches has helped them pocket more than 100 million Euros.
However, the matches in the current qualifying round bring a feeling of "not being too important" to fans. Previously, in the group stage, teams would usually have 1-2 decisive matches, being forced to win to advance or take the top spot,... Now, the 8 group stage matches are sometimes not too dramatic in terms of results if not the ticket matches in the final rounds.
In the old format, teams will know which is the main opponent in the outer round and meeting again immediately after this round ends (like Benfica and Real Madrid) is impossible. Or like Liverpool last season, leading the qualifying round but facing PSG right in the next round is a big limitation.
The fact that the indicators decided the ticket to continue with the qualifying round format was much more complicated than the old group stage. When Club Brugge won Marseille 3-0 in the last round, the Belgian team even posted a status congratulating the opponent for passing the qualifying round. However, just 1 minute later, goalkeeper Trubin's goal against Real Madrid reversed the result. Benfica, not Marseille, was the team that went further. Benfica had previously won 3-2 but not enough and the result was 4-2.
Having an extra play-off round makes many teams more tense. With an increasingly dense schedule, having to play 2 more matches is something no one wants.
One of the criteria of the qualifying round is to choose teams of the same "class" to play against each other. However, due to the too complicated arrangement probability, this is not complete, for example, Real Madrid still plays against Kairat Almaty.
UEFA has announced that it will test this format for 3 seasons, and then decide whether to apply it for a long time or make some adjustments. In general, as revenue increases, UEFA's abolition of this format will not happen, they just need to refine it so that the number of matches is still maintained with the number of teams being expanded as it is now.
One of the suggestions is that the current 36 teams can be divided into 2 groups, 18 teams in each group and maintain the qualifying round format. After that, there will be play-off matches in the final rounds between the two groups, looking for teams to enter the round of 16 and no need to organize another knockout round like now. The drama is still maintained, the number of lost matches is not much.
Or, UEFA can be divided into 4 groups, each group of 9 teams. From there, one team still ensures to play enough 8 matches in the group stage, the number of matches will not be reduced. At that time, fans will also be easier to follow, avoiding having to find ways to follow 18 matches at the same time as in the last match this week.
This is the 2/3th season in UEFA's testing process for this new format. Next season, the Champions League is likely to continue to change and fans will look forward to more new things.
