The new look Champions League is here, and it all kicks off tomorrow at 5:45.
The format is a league system with all 36 teams in one league. However, each team only plays 8 opponents - 4 home and 4 away.
The top 8 at the end of the league section go to the quarter finals, with teams 9-24 going into a play-off round. Teams 9-16 will be seeded against teams 17-24. Teams who finish 25th to 36th are eliminated, and there is no drop down to the Europa.
One of the selling points of the new system is BIG games every match week. With pot 1 teams being drawn against 2 other pot 1 teams it takes away the seeding protection.
Match week 1 is unique in that the games are spread over 3 days - 6 games per day. Weeks 2-7 will be the traditional Tuesday and Wednesday, while week 8 will see all games played at the same time. Weeks 1-7 will see 5:45pm and 8pm kick off times.
Tuesday 17th
ASTON VILLA kick off this seasons competition away in Switzerland to Young Boys. The other 5:45 is Juventus vs PSV.
The first BIG match is a repeat of the 2005 and 2007 finals - AC MILAN vs LIVERPOOL. This game is on Amazon Prime.
Bayern Munich and Real Madrid have home ties against Dinamo Zagreb and Stuttgart respectively, while Sporting and Lille meet in Portugal.
Wednesday 18th
The second England-Milan match up is the highlight of Wednesdays games as two champions meet. MANCHESTER CITY vs INTER MILAN is one of the 8pm kick offs.
Bologna vs Shakhtar Donetsk and Sparta Prague vs Salzburg are the 5:45 kick offs.
CELTIC host Slovan Bratislava in an 8pm, a game they will surely look to as a big chance to get points on the board. Also at 8 are Club Brugge vs Dortmund and PSG vs Girona.
Thursday 19th
Feyenoord and Bayer Leverkusen meet in a 5:45 kick off, with Crvena Zvezda vs Benfica the other early game.
At 8pm we have the Europa champions, with ATALANTA vs ARSENAL. Atletico Madrid host RB Leipzig, Barcelona go to Monaco and Brest debut against Sturm Graz.
All games except the Liverpool one are on TNT.
It is a jump into the unknown, with no-one really having a solid idea on how many points will be required to get top 8, 9-16 or 17-24. A good start will be important though, teams will not want the pressure to build early on.
Good luck to all teams. Except Atalanta.
Champions League Week 1
posted on 16/9/24
Every time I see Atalanta it takes me back to this.
https://youtu.be/d5OQV8k-0Dg?si=jxvjiZ1sNXhzi8c8
posted on 16/9/24
Atalanta became the only second tier team to reach a European semi final that year I believe.
I remember going to watch Dartford away to Merthyr around that time. Long journey for a kid, but worth it as Dartford won 2-1 if memory serves me well.
posted on 16/9/24
15 points for the top 8
9 points for top 24.
According to the mathematicians.
posted on 16/9/24
Feels a bit light for top 8 to me. Would fancy a fair few of the pot 1 and 2 teams to take 12 points from pot 3 and 4 games.
Even Villa, from pot 4, I can see them beating 5 of the 8 (Monaco, Celtic, Brugge, Young Boys, Bologna) (probably lose tomorrow now I've said that).
posted on 16/9/24
An "interesting" fact on who has the "easiest draw" - if you take it on the co-efficients of opponents Young Boys have the best draw. Atalanta are second, Red Star Belgrade third. Dortmund, Monaco, Sturm Graz and Celtic also got favourable draws by that yardstick with Real Madrid 8th.
posted on 16/9/24
Feyenoord, PSG and Salzburg have the hardest draw based on coefficients.