It is still early days for the new Champions League format but, after two rounds of matches, ‘the Swiss model’ is proving far less engaging than the old four-team group stage.
UEFA sold the switch to a 36-team ‘league phase’ as an opportunity for fans to see more “big matches… earlier in the competition”, and for clubs to have fewer meaningless games before the knockouts.
While the revamped competition is arguably delivering on the first promise – we have already seen Liverpool face AC Milan, Manchester City against Inter Milan and Arsenal versus Paris Saint-Germain – it is palpably not the case that the matches feel more meaningful than under the previous format. In fact, quite the opposite.
At the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, there was a distinct lack of jeopardy as Arsenal earned their first win in the league phase with a 2-0 victory over PSG.
A commanding performance against the 2020 runners-up, who have twice made the last four since, should do Arsenal’s confidence at this level a world of good, but it was difficult to argue that the result really mattered in the wider context of qualification for the knockouts.
In a four-man group, Arsenal might have put themselves in pole position for top spot or even left PSG sweating on a place in the last-16 but, as it is, the Ligue 1 champions have six more opportunities to recover, while Mikel Arteta’s side have half a dozen more games to potentially slip up.
PSG already have three points on the board after a late win over Girona, so while it might have been a chastening night for Luis Enrique’s young side, it is unlikely to prove decisive to their chances of finishing in the top 24.
Even Celtic, who were thrashed 7-1 at Borussia Dortmund on the same night, have ample chances to pick themselves up and make the knockouts.
Opta has estimated clubs with nine points should make the play-off round, so the Bhoys, who already have a home win under their belts, only need two more wins from their remaining six games. They can effectively concentrate on making Celtic Park a fortress.
Not a single supporter leaving the Emirates on Tuesday would have been able to say with confidence where Arsenal were sitting in the 36-team league table (eighth, by the way) and, fair enough, because at this stage it feels totally irrelevant. Even Arteta said it is “too early” to bother checking the standings.
“Everybody has to play a lot of different and difficult games home and away,” Arteta said. “We have to adapt to that. We still don’t know how many points we’ll need. All we can focus on is trying to perform and winning our own games. That’s what we’ve done tonight. Now focus on the Premier League.
“We want to be at the very top to play less games and have the capacity to have a better draw after that,” he added. “It’s gonna be a long journey I think.”
Arteta is right. To win the competition now requires two additional matches in the initial phase and four extra for teams who reach the knockouts via the play-offs.
There is a long road ahead and, while the old group phase was wrapped up by Christmas, the league will drag on until the end of January, largely made up of strangely insignificant affairs, as at Arsenal on Tuesday.
By the New Year, perhaps there will be drama and intrigue, with some of the games in the last match-round or two loaded with edge-of-your-seat jeopardy, as teams leapfrog one another in and out of the play-off and automatic qualification places.
Equally, a number of teams will already be assured of a place in the top eight or play-offs with games to spare, potentially leading to dead-rubbers or mass rotations.
Even an exciting finale to the league phase will not justify so much drab filler beforehand
Ultimately, even an exciting finale to the league phase will not justify so much drab filler beforehand.
An impressive win over PSG, sealed by goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka, still made for a memorable night for Arsenal fans, though how many neutrals would really have been interested, given the lack of jeopardy?
Any elite sport can only remain compelling when the contests matter, particularly in the current landscape, when it is increasingly obvious that there is simply too much elite football taking place.
UEFA fought tooth and nail against the European Super League but its revamped Champions League has largely the same energy, at least at this stage. More big games, yes, but who really cares when they feel so much less significant?
