Really? I must have been one of the few whose parents (father, in my case) pretty much didn’t watch anything before the quarter-finals of the old European Champions’ Cup since the match-ups were ridiculously unbalanced… 1977 : Liverpool (English champions) face successively Crusaders of Northern Ireland (2-0 & 5-0 with many key players rested), Trabzonspor (0-1 in Turkey, 3-0 at Anfield), Saint-Etienne (0-1 in France, 3-1 at Anfield), Zurich (3-1 & 3-0 routine demolition) and Monchengladbach in the final (3-1 in Rome). Five interesting games (Trabzonspor Home&Away, Saint-Etienne Home&Away, Zurich Away, Monchengldbach). 1978 : Liverpool (European champions) get a bye in the first round, and then face Dynamo Dresden (5-1 at Anfield, 1-2 in Germany with key players rested), Benfica (2-1 in Portugal, 4-1 at Anfield), Monchengladbach (again! 1-2 in Germany, 3-0 at Anfield), and Club Brugge in the final (1-0 at Wembley, with Brugge almost not attacking). Again, five interesting games (six if you want to count Dresden at Anfield).

From UEFA’s own summary of the 1977/1978 European Cup : “In mitigation, Brugge coach Ernst Happel could point to a long injury list, yet the feeling was that Liverpool would have won regardless. After all, they had scored 12 times in three home games against 1. FC Dynamo Dresden, SL Benfica and VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach. The German side had themselves seen off FK Crvena Zvezda and FC Wacker Innsbruck, but did not survive the trip to Anfield despite the cushion of a 2-1 win in Düsseldorf. Ray Kennedy, Jimmy Case and Dalglish provided the goals in a one-sided contest – and by now Mönchengladbach had given new meaning to the pop-music term ‘Mersey beat’, having lost two European finals and a semi-final to the Reds.”

The simple fact that over 15 editions (1969/1970-1983/1984) only four countries (England (7 : Liverpool 4, Nottingham 2, Aston Villa 1), Germany (4 : Bayern Munich 3, Hamburg 1) and the Netherlands (4 : Ajax 3, Feyenoord 1)) won the trophy shows that surprises were far more the thing of legends than a reality. The fact that “smaller” countries were represented further in the competition was far more down to there being only one club per country and “big” teams drawing each other early on than actual “surprises”. Look at Malmo’s final in 1979. Did they beat Real Madrid, Inter Milan or any other giant of the European scene in a legendary upset that propelled them to the final? Nope. They beat Austria Wien in the semis, Wisla Krakow in the quarter-finals, Dynamo Kyiv in the second round, and Monaco in the first round. The only “surprise” of that year was Grashopper’s elimination of Real Madrid by winning 2-0 at home after losing 3-1 at the Bernabeu. But in the next round Grashopper got knocked out 5-2 by Nottingham, so it was kind of short-lived. Malmo’s final was due to Juventus facing Rangers and Liverpool facing Nottingham in the first round (knocking out very early two strong sides), in the second round Rangers facing PSV, and then Koln facing Rangers in the quarter-finals. the Italian champions, English champions, European cup holders, Spanish champions, Dutch champions, German champions, Scottish champions, Portuguese champions and Greek champions were all drawn in the same “side” of the table. Malmo reaching the final was more a quirk of history due to the draw than any real profession of quality on behalf of Malmo (who sacked their manager because they didn’t win the league, but Oster, the new champions, were beaten 3-1 by Nottingham in the first round of the next European Cup).

The group stages do result in the “big” teams going through (don’t tell Zenit and Werder Bremen about it though), but knockout rounds do too. The current format of the Champions’ League is less predictible than the straight knock-out format… In 16 Champions’ League seasons, 11 different clubs have won the trophy (Real Madrid and AC Milan have 3, Manchester have 2), 7 different countries have won it (Spain and Italy 4 times, England 3 times, Germany twice), and no club nor country has retained the title. In the first 16 seasons of the European Cup, 8 clubs won the trophy (Real Madrid won 6, Benfica, Inter and Milan won 2), 6 countries won it (Spain 6 times, Italy 4 times, Portugal and the Netherlands twice), and the trophy was retained by three clubs representing three countries (Real Madrid 1955/1956-1959/1960, Benfica 1960/1961-1961/1962 and Inter 1963/64-1964/1965). I’m not going to take the 16 years of most clear domination (1968/1969-1984/1985) because that would be cruel (4 countries, 8 clubs, retained on 4 occasions by 4 clubs from 3 countries), but the last 16 years (including the post-Heysel ban) of the European Cup : 1976/1977-1991/1992. 11 winners, 8 countries, retained on 3 occasions by clubs from 2 countries. And the “high point” of that diversity was when English clubs were banned (from the 9 seasons out of those 16 before English clubs were banned, English clubs won 7 times)… When was it “better” before? I think it’s just rose tinted spectacles looking at the past.

However the group stages generate more cash, and as we all know, money trumps football everytime.

Also, teams would still be fighting more till the last game here as four 3rd placed teams would also qualify to the next round.

As a fan of a country with mostly those “second-tier” teams, this way I get to see each of them play six games. The other way? Only two.

Keeep the group stages!!