UEFA draws SuperChampions with big games for the four Spaniards
UEFA put everything it had on the table to make the next Champions League a spectacular competition with great duels and a revolutionary format, that is, to overshadow the Super League that continues to lurk on the horizon if Florentino Pérez remains in office.
The draw was led by Cristiano Ronaldo, who stepped out of Arabia for a few hours to take Ceferin's side, and Buffon, the veteran Juventus goalkeeper who is beginning to show some acting chops for his role in the announcement that ushered in the draw.
The European body drew on big names from the present and the past. Figo, Del Piero, Dembélé and the stellar appearance of Ibrahimovic explained what the new format is all about and ended up saying that ‘this is the Superl...’ to which Ceferin responded with ‘that was never going to happen’.
‘The dawn of a new era’ was the title of this short film produced by UEFA in support of its new competition format that hardly anyone in Europe understands. With games where there is no longer a return leg and with a strange draw where Buffon drew balls and Cristiano Ronaldo pressed a button for a machine to set the opponents eight by eight.
In the meantime, the Spanish teams are waiting for their clashes and to assess those great games that spectators love so much and that can end in tragedy if they don't win or if they end up causing too much intensity and injury.
Real Madrid will repeat the Champions League final and will host Dortmund at home. Also visiting the Bernabeu are Morata's Milan, Salzburg and Stuttgart. The most notable visit will be to Liverpool. They will also face Atalanta again and the weakest opponents will be Lille and Brest.
Barcelona will be looking to improve on their recent Champions League appearances, although it will not be easy. While the Camp Nou rises, Montjuic will host Bayern Munich, where Hansi Flick triumphed, Atalanta, Young Boys and Brest. The visits will be to Dortmund, Benfica, Red Star and Monaco.
Atletico Madrid will test their new squad at the Metropolitano against Leipzig, Leverkusen, Lille and Bratislava. They will visit PSG, Benfica, Salzburg and Sparta Prague.
Girona make their debut in the new Champions League with high-level opponents. Liverpool, Arsenal, Feyenord and Bratislava will visit Montilivi. While Michel's team will travel around Europe with matches against PSG, Milan, PSV and Sturm Graz.
It is no longer possible to say the same thing about away or home wins because the new format is a single group with matches on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday where the top eight go through to the last 16 and there will be a play-in from 9th to 24th. The rest, from 25th to 36th, will be definitively eliminated.
This is the rebirth of the Champions League. New times, new football. It is not the dream of the Superliga, but if it is successful and the clubs receive more money, it is possible that the dream of Europe's big clubs will vanish forever.
