A new era in European club football begins this week when the first games are played in the expanded Champions League amid curiosity about the rejigged format as well as growing concerns over an ever-increasing number of matches.
UEFA, the European game’s governing body, sensed the need for change at a time when the traditional group stage was becoming more predictable and the continent’s biggest clubs were threatening to break away and form their own Super League.
The result is a league phase featuring 36 clubs — four more teams than in the past — with everyone playing eight matches against eight different opponents, two more games than previously.
Opening night on Tuesday hits a high note.
Kylian Mbappe starts his quest for a first title with his third club, the record 15-time European champions Real Madrid that host VfB Stuttgart, the surprise runners-up in last season’s Bundesliga. Mbappe reached the semi-finals in 2017 with Monaco and were beaten finalists in 2020 with Paris St Germain.
UEFA has cleared its midweek schedule to relaunch the marquee club event over back-to-back-to-back nights — six games each through Thursday and the line-up will include a glamour tie between Monaco and Barcelona.
Ultimately, all 36 teams will be ranked from top to bottom in a single-league standing that finishes in January instead of traditional four-team groups that would end in December.
“In the end I think we came to a solution that will benefit all,” UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin told Britain’s Sky News recently when asked about the new format. “It will make a more unpredictable and more interesting competition. It is a great change.”
The top eight teams at the end of the league phase will advance to the last 16.
The teams placed from ninth to 24th in the standings will enter a play-off round to contest the remaining last-16 berths, while the bottom 12 teams will be eliminated.
There are greater financial rewards too, with the winners of the competition pocketing over 86 million euros ($95.3m) just in prize money, not including bonuses of 700,000 euros for every point gained in the league phase or income from television.
The draw has thrown up plenty of glamour ties throughout the coming months, including Paris St Germain meeting Arsenal and Manchester City, and Real playing Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool and Milan.
The new era starts with two 1645 GMT early kickoffs featuring three European Cup winners from the 1980s — Juventus (1985) host PSV Eindhoven (1988) and Aston Villa (1982) travel to Young Boys. Both are first-time fixtures between the teams.
Also playing are the four teams with the most European Cup and Champions League titles in their 70-season history.
While Real play Stuttgart in the first-ever meeting of the sides, six-time winners Bayern host Dinamo Zagreb looking to extend a 40-game, seven-year unbeaten run in group stages.
Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior during a match against MallorcaReal Madrid
The standout pairing is AC Milan against Liverpool at San Siro. Milan won the last of their seven European titles in the 2007 final against Liverpool. That was a rematch of the 2005 “Miracle of Istanbul” final when Liverpool rallied from 3-0 down at half time to win the fifth of their six titles.
A more recent rematch of another Istanbul final features the current champions of England and Italy. Manchester City, riding Erling Haaland’s hot start to the season, host an Inter Milan side they beat 1-0 in the 2023 final and are unbeaten in Champions League home games for six years.
It is also a night for fresh faces. Girona, who are in the same Abu Dhabi-backed ownership group as City, will make their European debut at PSG.
Bologna host Shakhtar Donetsk in its first game in the competition since a preliminary round exit 60 years ago. Bologna still play in the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara that has been their home since 1927 and staged games at the 1934 World Cup.
Last season’s Europa League finalists will also rise together to the bigger stage on Thursday.
Bayer Leverkusen’s only loss in a remarkable first full season under coach Xabi Alonso was that Europa final against Atalanta. Now Leverkusen return to the Champions League at Feyenoord, whose coach last season Arne Slot took the job at Liverpool that was first offered to Alonso.
Atalanta host Arsenal who have lost captain Martin Odegaard to an ankle injury suffered playing for Norway.
The expanded competition also has room for a meeting of two historic names when former champions Red Star Belgrade and Benfica face off in Serbia.
In addition to that, there will be an encounter between French newcomers Brest and Austrian champions Sturm Graz, hardly the kind of tie normally associated with the European elite.
It may well prove a success, a breath of fresh air that the competition needed in its early stages, especially as final positions in the league phase will determine seedings in the draw for the knockout rounds.
But there are concerns about the impact on players of the extra matches, especially in a season which will finish for top clubs with the first edition of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.
“Sometimes something new can be good for the competition and for everyone, but what we struggle to understand is the increase in the number of matches,” admitted Real coach Carlo Ancelotti, mindful of the potential added injury risk to his players.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti during a press conference Real Madrid (Antonio Villalba)
Global footballers’ union FIFPRO said earlier this month that the sport’s governing bodies were “failing to meet their duty of care” towards players by denying them sufficient rest and imposing extra games.
FIFPRO said too many players were already playing too many games, but the possibilities for time off appear to only be decreasing.
“We need safeguards for players to limit their travel, ensure rest periods, and provide adequate recovery so they can reach peak performance,” said Stephane Burchkalter, FIFPRO’s acting General Secretary.
For now, the demands are only getting greater, and in the case of the Champions League it remains to be seen if bigger means better.
Manchester City have been an unstoppable force in English football of late, but now face the challenge of clearing the club's name against accusations their dominance is built on foundations of financial impropriety.
Six years after a Premier League investigation began and 19 months on from 115 charges being leveled against the English champions, a hearing that will decide City's fate begins on Monday.
An independent panel is expected to hear evidence for at least two months and with a verdict unlikely until well into 2025 for what has been dubbed British sport's "trial of the century."
Since a 2008 takeover from Sheikh Mansour, City have been transformed from also-rans into the Premier League's dominant force.
Eight of the club's 10 league titles have come in the last 13 seasons, plus a first and only Champions League in 2023.
However, they stand accused of bending financial rules to their will while on the rise to their current status.
Of the 115 charges, 80 are for breaches of the regulations between 2009 and 2018, while a further 35 relate to failing to cooperate with the Premier League's investigation.
The root of suspicion comes from leaked documents published by German outlet Der Spiegel back in 2018.
Emails purportedly sent between top City executives showed the club had inflated sponsorship revenue from Abu Dhabi state-controlled airline Etihad and telecoms firm Etisalat by disguising direct investment from Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group as income.
Man City’s senior management team met Sheikh Mansour in the UAE after treble gloryWAM
Other documents claimed to show off-the-books payments to then manager Roberto Mancini via consultancy fees from a club in Abu Dhabi.
City responded to the allegations denying any wrongdoing and insisting there is a "comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence" to prove so.
And they have already defended their position in one case after overturning a two-year ban from the Champions League by UEFA at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in 2020.
CAS found most of alleged breaches of overstating sponsorship revenue were either not established or "time-barred" because they fell outside the five-year statutory limit for prosecution.
But no such time limitation clause exists in the Premier League case.
If found guilty on some or all of the charges, City face a severe points deduction and possibly even expulsion from the Premier League.
Everton and Nottingham Forest were both hit by points deductions last season for single breaches of profit and sustainability rules.
A guilty verdict could also bring to an end Pep Guardiola's glorious reign at the Etihad.
The City manager, who is into the final year of his contract, has steadfastly backed his superiors but previously said he would walk if they had not been honest with him.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola celebrating with the trophy after winning the Premier LeagueReuters
"If you lie to me, the day after I am not here," said Guardiola in 2022.
Severe sanctions would also raise doubts over the future of City's cast of star players, including prolific striker Erling Haaland.
And other clubs could make a claim for titles to be stripped and compensation if City gained an unfair advantage by nefarious means.
Yet, there is also plenty at play for the Premier League no matter the outcome.
If City lose their case, an entire era -- at a time when the English top-flight enjoys global prominence over its European rivals -- becomes mired in scandal.
On the other hand, should City prove their innocence, the Premier League stand accused of being a soft touch and outmaneuvered by the deep pockets of state-backed clubs.
Cristiano Ronaldo became the first men's player in history to score 900 career goals after finding the back of the net in Portugal's home Nations League game against Croatia on Thursday.
Ronaldo put his side 2-0 up at the Estadio da Luz in the 34th minute when he got on the end of a Nuno Mendes cross with a tap-in volley from close range, before falling to the ground looking emotional at reaching another milestone.
"It means a lot," Ronaldo said after the match. "It was a milestone I wanted to reach for a long time. I knew I would reach this number, because as I continue to play, it would happen naturally."
"It was emotional because it's a milestone," he added. "It seems like any other milestone, but only I know, and the people around me, how hard it is to work every day, to be physically and psychologically fit, to score 900 goals. It's a unique milestone in my career."
Argentina's Lionel Messi, second in the all-time scorer's list, has bagged 859 career goals.
Real Madrid - 450
Ronaldo scores a goal for Real Madrid. AFP
Manchester United - 145
Ronaldo celebrates after scoring a goal for Manchester UnitedAFP
Portugal - 131
Portugal's Ronaldo reacts during a match.Reuters
Juventus - 101
Ronaldo scored 101 goals for Italian club Juventus.AFP
Al-Nassr - 68
Ronaldo celebrates after scoring for Saudi club Al-NassrReuters
Sporting CP – 5
Ronaldo also played for Sporting CP at the beginning of his career. Facebook/SportingCP
Ronaldo is no mood of slowing down any time soon as his next target is scoring 1,000 goals.
"I want to reach 1,000 goals," he told his former Man United teammate Rio Ferdinand for his YouTube channel recently. "If I don't have any injuries, this for me is the most important [thing], I want that. For me, the best mark that I can have in football is to reach, first, 900 goals. After, my challenge is to be at 1,000 goals."
The 39-year-old is considered one of the greatest footballers of all time, given his long list of honors. He has won the FIFA Ballon d'Or five times along with five UEFA Champions League titles. Ronaldo also won the UEFA European Championship with Portugal in 2016.
