Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Two Much for the Champions League

The Champions League crown has never had a stable home. However, last year's winners, Bayern Munich, will try to change all of that. As the tournament favorites, the Bavarian giants will have to overcome a hurdle no Champions League winner has yet achieved. The German side must defend the title. Since the tournament's inception in 1955, teams have won consecutive times. However, since the restructure of the European Cup in 1992 leading to what we call the Champions League today no team has won consecutive titles. Still, how is it possible that with so many kings in the last two decades each one has been overthrown. An understanding of the differences between the old and new formats of the tournament are key to seeing just how difficult it is today. For example, back when the tournament was the European Cup teams took on a very different route. Only the champions of each country would face off against one another. Basically, it was like having a spin at the roulette wheel with only one team from all the top leagues facing off against the the lesser known leagues of Eastern Europe. With the Champions League format today, teams face the highest caliber opponents from the top leagues and the lower ranking leagues have to fight to join the pack. After Porto won the Champions League in 2004, Jose Mourinho said the best team doesn't always win and it's the luck of the draw. The 'Special One' was spot on with his comment. In football there's a great deal of luck that goes into going all the way in tournaments. For example, a team like Borussia Dortmund was able to reach the 2013 final by facing Donetsk and Malaga. Now imagine if Borussia had the same route as Munich, who faced Arsenal and Juventus. I'm not saying Borussia wouldn't be capable of reaching the final without knocking off some giants. They proved their potential with a demanding two leg win over Real Madrid, but having to face two giants in a row could have definitely been too much to handle. Apart from the luck of the draw, the Champions League is just one of many focal points in the season. It's a competition among domestic leagues, league cups, international play and for those at the upper echelon world club competitions. It's no surprise that once a team wins the coveted crown they represent Europe in the FIFA Club World Cup. This pointless (just my opinion since it's always just Europe v. South America) tournament only puts a strain on teams making it difficult to rest key players during the winter period. By the time most leagues and the CL competition get swinging again in the Spring these teams face some serious injury concerns and player fatigue. More so, from the standpoint of this fanatical football follower, the CL is more like a tournament, not of kings, but of gods. I don't think there's any other sports competition in the world that can match the overall financial and historical value of the tournament. Having teams like Manchester United, Real Madrid or Juventus in any given group makes for a giant showdown, as opposed to, the old format. The old school European Cup only featured 5 big names from the 5 big leagues with the occasional breakout team in Eastern Europe. Basically, the ratio of talent grew substantially with the CL format. With this Bayern Munich side there's potential to change history and keep the crown for another year. Pep Guardiola, who is great at rotating players, will be capable of keeping the German engine running full throttle to the end, but many giants came before and all have failed. We'll have to wait until the dawn of Spring to see if Munich holds the coveted crown.

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