The new format of the European Cups, with 36 teams for each competition, with the top eight going into the round of 16 and the 9th-24th places in the play-offs, is about to make victims of huge names in European football and not only.
The fact that it is no longer the classic group of four, with the top two teams going into the round of 16 and the 3rd place transferring to the next competition, except for the Conference League, which is the last, has brought about very big changes.
The matches are important from the first to the eighth (last) because by playing only once with another team you can’t really do calculations and now the number of goals has also increased enormously, because you also need to be very careful about the goal difference, in in case of equal points.
Obviously, the spectacle that attracts like a magnet is in the Champions League. The games from the 5th stage were played on Tuesday and Wednesday, so half of the schedule was exceeded. And some surprises of unimaginable proportions are looming. The record holder of trophies, Real Madrid and also the current European champion, occupies only the 24th place, i.e. the last for the play-offs, but it is in great danger.
Three of the starting defenders are missing and for almost two months there will be no goal scorer Vinicius Junior either, recently injured. Real have only six points and three more games to go, which they must win to avoid a huge embarrassment. Real lost the last game, at Liverpool, the only team that has the maximum score in the five stages.
The big problem is Kylian Mbappe, who is considered the best player in the world, valued at almost 250 million euros. At Liverpool, Mbappe missed a penalty at 1-0 and the press in Madrid did not forgive him. The conclusion is worrisome: the Frenchman not only did not bring an extra, but it seems that, rather, he ruined a very well-designed mechanism.
Another struggling giant in 17th is Manchester City, who are without a win in six matches, the last result being a 3-3 home draw with Feyenoord in the Champions League after 3-0 to the citizens by the 75th minute. Pep Guardiola is going through the most difficult moment of his career and his nerves ended up scratching his face. And City’s schedule until the end is one that can continue the negative streak.
Real Madrid and Manchester City are among the nobles of Europe who already have the Champions League trophy in the window, the Spaniards of no less than 15 of the 34 successes in the European or world cups. A third team of giants, but which has only lost one final, is PSG, with the most ungrateful situation, 25th place and with only theoretical chances after 0-1 in Munich with Bayern and with difficult opponents in the last matches.
Source: www.cotidianul.ro
