Wouldn't it be fairer for smaller clubs + more exciting for football, to get rid of the different pots used for the draft in the group phase?

Yes, that might mean we could get killer pools with Barcelona, Real Madrid, ManU and Bayern, and would thus make the the later rounds of the tournament somewhat less competitive. But it would also ensure we wouldn't get basically the same last 16/8 EVERY SINGLE SEASON (which is unfair to smaller teams, who will get less and less and less revenue + a bit "same old, same old").

You could use the argument that smaller teams need to beat all those other teams to win the whole thing anyway, but a team that might get knocked out straight by Barcelona or Chelsea, might find a way to make it past Porto, Valencia or Lyon and then make it to the semi-finals. The winner will have (indirectly) beaten all the others anyway, so you can't say the final outcome is less competitive.

I am a bit peeved that Real Madrid ends up playing Lyon AGAIN and that we can already predict that all the teams in the first pot will make it to the second round. Makes group-stages tedious.

Discuss,

What's the point?

Madrid will still get Lyon somehow and Utd will get a cake walk group.

It would be good for the sport, but bad for business. And UEFA can't have that

Are you kidding me? We already have villareal napoli and bayern munich in one group with other groups with bad teams and you want to make it even worse?

This must really be easy for the journalists. They can just pick out last year's coverage on Champs League when we met Ajax and Lyon and just rehash it for this year's competition. It's not like much has changed anyway ...

So you wanna see some shity club in semi finals?

ChollaVille wrote:So you wanna see some shity club in semi finals?

So you rather see the same matches every single year?

Plus, in the long run, these "shitty clubs" will stay shitty clubs, as they can't ever compete with the teams that get the revenues and massive exposure every single year of playing in the outrounds, and will hence never be able to keep up. It is decreasing the overall competitiveness of football, as you will end up with some sort of major league.

Also, I don't see how this would make the overall tournament boring, as we would have the more interesting fixtures on paper during the group phase.

No, they should not be random


However, they shouldn't be fixed either

Yep. It would kill TV money and that's like sacred and cures cancer and shit. Also, compare the ammount of fans in the big clubs to the smaller ones.

Not happening, sadly.

I don't really agree with this idea.

You might get Manchester United, Barcelona, Milan, and Bayern all in the same group, and on the other hand you get a bunch of nobodies in the same group. It'll make the group stage exciting, but later on, you might find teams like matches are always a bit boring in the group stages, then they gradually become more exciting until they reach climax at the final.

it would be bad because there would be 2 groups containing: Madrid, Manu, Inter, Bayern. other group: Barca, Chelsea, Milan, Arsenal. This would mean that 4 great teams already out and much more easier for teams who progress from such groups to win 5-0 4-0 in the latter stages. not funny....last season quarterfinals were the most boring onesided and predictable ones in champions league history. no more of that please. i am actually feeling bad for group a, because there is 4 big clubs and 2 of them already out before round of 16, while teams like shaktar, marseille, benfica, zenith, lyon, porto etc gets easier progress. not good for competition -. my 2 cents

I'll will support this if it mean Manchested United, Arsenal and Barcelon don't get easy group every time.

Guiltybystander wrote:Yes, that might mean we could get killer pools with Barcelona, Real Madrid, ManU and Bayern, and would thus make the the later rounds of the tournament somewhat less competitive. But it would also ensure we wouldn't get basically the same last 16/8 EVERY SINGLE SEASON (which is unfair to smaller teams, who will get less and less and less revenue + a bit "same old, same old").

You are suggesting this because Real Madrid drew Lyon again this season ?

So you would rather have a Real Madrid vs United for instance in the group stage than in some point of the knockout rounds ?

Excitement should be reserved for the business end of the competition..Yes we would have a competitive and exciting group stage but kills all the excitement of having more number of glamorous encounters in the knockout rounds where the build-up and the hype is unparalleled really..

Smaller teams dont benefit a lot ,i agree with this..But purely from a viewership point of view where Uefa always looking to expand the ever-increasing popularity of the competition ,it could perhaps prove to be a disadvantage for them..So its better if it stays as it is..

group a is imo very balanced, although with city as the slightly safest bet of the 4 to progress. i think this group will be determinded on how each teams fare at front of their own fans. I think Napoli can win their 3 home games, so can Bayern, Man City and Villareal, but I doubt any of these teams can win each other away.

looking at the CL teams this year it seems that the competition is finally heading back to its old ways in which there were only top teams, all we need is for juve roma to step it up and get italy that 4th spot back.

The BoyWonder wrote:group a is imo very balanced, although with city as the slightly safest bet of the 4 to progress. i think this group will be determinded on how each teams fare at front of their own fans. I think Napoli can win their 3 home games, so can Bayern, Man City and Villareal, but I doubt any of these teams can win each other away.

Why do you guys keep under-estimating Bayern...?

The only thing that might stop Bayern from not progressing easily will be injuries to key players otherwise we should handle this teams easily

Nah I prefer the pots because that usually leaves the best teams for the knockouts.

The BoyWonder wrote:it would be bad because there would be 2 groups containing: Madrid, Manu, Inter, Bayern. other group: Barca, Chelsea, Milan, Arsenal. This would mean that 4 great teams already out and much more easier for teams who progress from such groups to win 5-0 4-0 in the latter stages. not funny....last season quarterfinals were the most boring onesided and predictable ones in champions league history. no more of that please. i am actually feeling bad for group a, because there is 4 big clubs and 2 of them already out before round of 16, while teams like shaktar, marseille, benfica, zenith, lyon, porto etc gets easier progress. not good for competition -. my 2 cents

Trust me with BvB and Arsenal we do not have it easy by any means

First of all GBS <3

Secondly, the solution to all this would be to reintroduce the second group phase.

It'll solve all these problems IMO. The small teams Platini wants to compete will still get to enjoy the first group stage and we'll still get the glamour games in the second group stage.

I will answer your question with another question: Are you gonna watch BATE play Plezn?

bs... if the small clubs are any good they should be able to pull off upsets, it's ridiculous to give them a free pass... imho even the current model with the "champions" and "non champions" route to cl is stupid, i'd much rather see udinese in the group stage than otelulz or whatever they're called...

I would like to watch Real Madrid vs Manchester United a million times rather than watch Arsenal vs Porto.

there shold be some fixed variables u know like they should rank clubs which are the strongest , for example rank one : arsenal, man utd, barca, real madrd etc...
rank two: dortmound , fc port etc...
rank three: shakhtar etc..
rank four: Bate
u know so that in the final stages we can see some exciting football and u wouldn't see teams like schalke in the semis ( eventhough they were really good last year ) anyway its just an opinion

Reintroduce the 2nd group stage phase. Problem solved.