Champions League stands up to proposed 'Super League'
The Champions League returns. This pleases me. Today Atleti welcome the league leaders in Germany, a team that has been impressing. Barça go to Inter Milan, and everyone has taken the opportunity to talk with Luis Suárez Miramontes, Spain's Ballon d'Or in 1960, who shone for both clubs. Tomorrow, Young Boys will visit a Valencia side on a low, while Real Madrid will head to Plzen, the beer capital, to play Viktoria. There they are calling it 'the game of the century'. Away from the Spanish sides we have Napoli-PSG today, and then tomorrow will see Juventus-Manchester United and Benfica-Ajax among others. Big games that shake up the rhythm of the national leagues.
New 'Super League' ambitions
I like the Champions League for that, for its exceptional character. And for the same reason, I distrust this new initiative with elitist overtones that was being concocted by a small group, with Florentino as a frustrated boss, looking to change this competition. Something like a European NBA (I see a pulse palette in that fixation) in which a few clubs would install themselves at the expense of the rest, placing serious damage on their respective national leagues. 'Football Leaks' revealed what the ambitions were, ones that have already been dampened, among other things because the formidable US company Relevent that had hatched the plan, had not thought it through clearly.
Scrooge McDuck types
As I've already said, I like the Champions League. And it is not an inflexible competition, but one that has evolved a lot since the old European Cup, that had home-and-away knock out ties between all the champions around Europe. This model focuses on the best, and opens up a slot for another in the Europa League, while respecting the weekend for national championships. The fantasy of those Scrooge McDuck types, trying to sort things out behind closed doors, hasn't worked out for them. A journalistic investigation has revealed all the details of their plans, which is very much appreciated by the fans, since they did not have the decency to tell us themselves.