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a “big Champions League Night” which ended up being quite a good run-out armoryQatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain seemed less of a sportswashing project and more of a youth project. The level of superiority in this 2-0 win was again on Arsenal’s credit, but should also be a cause for concern for UEFA.
This was one of those big-name fixtures the new Champions League was sold on – more games, more fixtures, more, more, more between the best – and yet it didn’t really feel like either side made it a match. Is considered as very result. It was a world away from, say, 2000-01 when Lyon came to north London and Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal knew full well they had to do something.
If reading about these issues has become tiresome by now, it is worth remembering that such topics only arise because there are very few consequences on the pitch. Here, in only the second of eight games, Arsenal got a win that already took them more than halfway into the top 24. In contrast, PSG had already secured their victory with an early 1–0 win over Verona. As a result it felt as if both teams were looking at the game in a wider context rather than treating it as a precise Champions League opportunity in itself.
This is the reality of how this Swiss system operates, at least in this economic framework.
Once from the 20th minute there was a little doubt about the result kai havertz An excellent headed goal on what was a bad night for Gianluigi Donnarumma. He was beaten to Leandro Trossard’s cross for the moment and was then released bukayo saka The free-kick cross bounced straight past him for the second time.
It was no more than Arsenal deserved, given that both goals came at times when they were largely in trouble. This was perhaps inevitable, as they are a far more advanced team than PSG at the moment.
The French champions in fact became so frustrated with their previous “Galactics” project that they changed tactics late on, eventually turning to youth and proper pressing football in 2023. That’s why they initially went for it mikel arteta That summer, due to his success with this exact approach. He’s been at it for more than three years, so Arsenal are looking three years better.
When Joao Neves hit the post and Achraf Hakimi forced David Raya to make a good save, they were too nervous to easily overcome PSG’s early surge. It was like that until the other side of Arsenal’s 2–0 lead.
No problem. PSG can certainly get points for the Top 24 against PSV Eindhoven and Salzburg. This would take them to nine, which most models predict will be more than safe enough for the play-offs.
Remember, this isn’t even a league. This is an elimination format.
That’s why even Celtic’s 7-1 humiliation at the feet of Borussia Dortmund didn’t seem that significant other than pride. Such a result would actually have done little harm to their chances of becoming Scottish champions as it would have been one of those games they were expected to lose anyway. Instead they are looking to squeeze in matches against Club Brugge and Young Boys.
This is one of the most common defenses of this new format, as the argument is that it is a good thing that such “middle class” clubs still have the kind of chance they did not get in the old group stage.
However, that’s exactly the point. Celtic will simply have to rely on that because three decades of football policy – and especially the last eight years – have allowed the financial gap to grow to a level that is damaging competitiveness. The distorted prize money of the Champions League had been a primary engine of this, to the extent that the fumes it created were causing panic in the competition.
This has been UEFA’s biggest failure, which led to its exit from the competition. This is another element worth remembering, as the games remain so forgettable. This is by design.
The wealthiest clubs, up to Milan and Rangers in the late 1980s, felt that European competition was too unpredictable, which was not good for accounts or financial planning. They needed more security. They needed more games, more guarantees. More, more, more.
This is the same. This is predictable. This is filler. It’s a grand demonstration of how there is an inherent tension in treating competitive sport as a “business” alone, for clubs that don’t actually need to make a profit. They just need to be durable.
Can interest in it be sustained?
It is clear that some games are going to be in danger at the end, probably around seventh to ninth and 23rd-25th places, because those are the cut-off places for the last 16 and play-offs.
When they arrive, there will inevitably be talk about the success of the format and how great it is. The same thing happened with the previous eight-group format.
That being said, it’s worth remembering that this is the minimum requirement for the game: some danger.
Instead we’ll have so many games – possibly over 100 of the initial 144 – that don’t really feel like proper games. They’re just…fillers. The fixtures have to be completed. There are too many matches for too few teams to eliminate.
You can’t have a better blueprint for ruining a good thing and turning people away from it. One has to wonder what the viewing figures are, especially of fans of clubs not involved.
Arsenal supporters are certainly totally engrossed in this season, because it’s going so well, and they’re looking great. They should think about winning the competition.
It says a lot that they don’t have to think about it for months. They just have to get through this group stage. They are currently eighth in the table and don’t seem even worth watching right now.
Many people may already be saying the same thing about some of these games.