TIn his era, no one would be blamed for a draw. This season’s Champions League last 16 has been monotonous and largely unmemorable, with Arsenal winning the second leg against Porto and Atletico Madrid coming from a 2-0 aggregate deficit on penalties. They eliminated Internazionale and recovered to some extent by the final week. . But most of the time it was a repeat of the predictable and the uninspired.
To some extent, it’s simply a function of relationships, mixed with mismatches and conflicts between teams that have been bad this season for whatever reason. Considering how disappointing Barcelona and Napoli were, even the matchup between the Spanish and Italian champions felt oddly inconsequential.
However, there are no such problems in the quarterfinals. You’ll probably go with Inter instead of Borussia Dortmund or Atletico, but these are about the best teams in the competition, or at least eight of the 10 or so teams you expected to reach. Quarter finals.
And therein lies part of the problem. Although they are giants, they are well known. Three from Spain, two each from Germany and England, and one from France. They are the same old team with the same old patterns, and of the ties he has done more than 10 times, with three of them being in the Champions League era.
A certain amount of history adds to the richness of the story. For example, Arsenal fans need no reminder that the last time they faced Bayern Munich in the Champions League they lost 10-2 on aggregate and even the evidence was destroyed. For those last to believe that the Wenger era is over, a sense of fatigue is inevitable. This is what 30 years of hyper-capitalism in football has delivered, the reward for pursuing the idea that Silvio Berlusconi first lobbied for.
The Champions League probably reached its peak at the end of the first week of May 2019, with Liverpool overcoming a three-goal deficit to defeat Barcelona on Tuesday and Tottenham achieving the same victory against Ajax on Wednesday. Champions It was a time when the knockout stage of his league felt like the best and most exciting sport in the world.
But even back then, there were questions about how they got to that point, and by concentrating their resources (even though they were the most successful team in Dutch history and had the best stadium in the Netherlands) There was a recognition that all but an elite few would pay a terrible price. Britain felt like a rebel army).
As a result, the nation’s unbeatable elite clubs have essentially forgotten how to defend. That, in turn, meant wild developments and improbable reversals, which may have been fun to watch, but were a sign of rot at the heart of the game.
What has happened since then is that the process that led to one or two clubs dominating domestic leagues is starting to play out at continental level as well. The tendency towards monopoly is inevitable. When a club is successful, they get prize money and more spectators and TV viewers, which generates more revenue and allows them to invest in players, coaches and facilities, increasing their chances of success and the cycle starts again. To do. .
The Victorians recognized the danger when they established the Football League in 1887, making home sides pay a levy to away sides, reducing the advantage of large crowds. That’s why English football has managed to avoid superclub culture for so long, even though the most successful team in British history, Manchester United, has won just 16% of all English league titles. , which is why Juventus wins 30% of the games in Italy. In Spain, Madrid has 38%, and in Germany, Bayern has 53%. However, this practice was abandoned in his 1981 year, not by chance, but due to the prevalence of Thatcherite economics.
The coronavirus has accelerated that process. The economic domination of English football is almost complete. The fact that only two Premier League clubs are in the quarter-finals says far more about the specific issues at Manchester United and Newcastle than it does about the overall financial picture. And the omission of two potential candidates has perhaps added to the sense of emptiness surrounding the last 16.
Last year, contracts with clubs in the Premier League and Championship were worth more than in the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 combined. That’s why Real Madrid president Florentino Perez keeps shouting about his Super League. He knows his club has lost its dominant position and will not recover without major structural changes.
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But this draw probably gives the Champions League a chance, if not redemption – European football is willing to kill its golden goose for it – at least to harvest a few more golden eggs.
A reenactment of the semi-finals of the past two seasons, between Manchester City and Real Madrid, will inevitably attract attention. Two years ago, City were the far better team on both legs, yet were engineered to lose in ridiculous circumstances. Their wins last season were so forgettable that it often seems like their curse. The first half at the Etihad was one of Europe’s great performances, but the sense of crisis was so low that it has already been largely forgotten.
Unless Madrid are much better than they were against RB Leipzig last week, this season could be similar, even if City are still not at last year’s level.
It will be a long time before Paris Saint-Germain can play against Barcelona without being reminded of the 4-0 lead they lost to Luis Enrique in 2017 (even if they beat them easily the following season) ). With the biggest celebrities gone, it felt like they might have become a more serious side under Luis Enrique. And Barça, led by Xavi, are clearly vulnerable.
But what matters for competition is not who does it and how. The Champions League seems to have slipped from an unmissable spectacle to a boring obligation with incredible speed. It needs life, it needs intrigue, it needs drama, it needs constant unpredictability, it needs a sense of not being a matrix for the best run of a super club. And frankly, if these bonds can’t provide that, then maybe it can’t do anything.
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