{"id":3938,"date":"2025-05-19T17:19:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T17:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icons.com\/news\/?p=3938"},"modified":"2025-06-19T10:10:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T10:10:32","slug":"andy-brassell-with-its-finals-here-has-uefas-club-comp-revamp-worked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icons.com\/news\/2025\/05\/19\/andy-brassell-with-its-finals-here-has-uefas-club-comp-revamp-worked\/","title":{"rendered":"ANDY BRASSELL: Has The UEFA Club Comp Revamp Worked?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ahead of the three intriguing finals, we find ourselves reviewing a new era for UEFA club competition.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started with a revamp few understood \u2013 or few cared to understand. Now we\u2019re approaching the moment of truth in the 2024-25 season it feels as though the new UEFA Champions League format has been in place forever and, while there have been few complaints, the effects continue to be felt, not just within the competition itself, but within its sister tournaments, the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the all-new singular league phase created high tension and a greater sense of jeopardy towards its conclusion, the addition of the playoff round to bridge the gap to the knockouts was where fans were really rewarded. Manchester City\u2019s epic tussle with Real Madrid CF, Bayern Munich\u2019s narrow escape against Celtic FC, and SL Benfica\u2019s struggle with AS Monaco were all prime edge-of-your-seat UEFA Champions League dramas. There were shocks too as PSV Eindhoven disposed of Juventus, Feyenoord dumped AC Milan out and Club Brugge eliminated an excellent Atalanta BC side \u2013 underpinning the notion that the re-rub of the competition has at least shaken things up in the short-term.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sense of change has continued throughout the knockouts. Even though Paris Saint-Germain and Internazionale are hardly strangers to a UEFA Champions League final, it feels inherently like there is a freshness to this year\u2019s showpiece in Munich. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

PSG have been, by consensus, the best team in the competition, despite a tepid start to their league phase campaign. This columnist witnessed first-hand the moment their fluid football clicked into place away at Salzburg just before Christmas. Finally, post-Mbapp\u00e9, Neymar Jr and Messi, PSG have begun to get neutrals on-side.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, as they proved by beating the most exciting FC Barcelona side in a generation, Inter are not to be underestimated. Their ability to roll with the punches and hang tough under extreme pressure is unfathomable. And, at the other end of the pitch, Lautaro Mart\u00ednez, despite a punishing workload for club and country in the last two years, is the UCL’s top scorer among players remaining in the tournament. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Away from the UEFA Champions League final, the English are coming (one of PSG\u2019s 2024-25 highlights is besting four of the Premier League\u2019s so-called finest). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normally having three teams from one country spread across the three UEFA finals would suggest that nation has a certain level of European dominance, but let\u2019s not jump the gun on the basis of one singular season, albeit an eventful and potentially revealing one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UEFA Champions League doesn\u2019t exist in a bubble. Its revamp has had one particularly big effect on the UEFA Europa League \u2013 that no longer do we get ‘lucky losers’ parachuting into the competition having finished third in a four-team group stage. Many have petitioned for this for years and would say the adjustment is fairer. But has it made the competition better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Only time will tell if this season is an anomaly rather than the new normal, but the shift in the UEFA Europa League\u2019s final stages could not be any more sharply underlined than by the fact its final will be contested not just by two Premier League teams, but by Premier League teams who occupy 16th<\/sup> and 17th<\/sup> in their domestic standings. The UEFA Europa League is a great competition that has in recent seasons built its reputation on thrilling knockouts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That hasn\u2019t quite been the same this term. Though, if Manchester United\u2019s breathless 5-4 aggregate win over Olympique Lyonnais in the quarter-finals lives on in the mind of everyone who saw it (it certainly will in mine), it doesn\u2019t hide the fact that the quality of this knockout stage has not been up to that of recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

United have been propped-up (and not just in that game) by the mighty\u00a0Bruno Fernandes, the best player left in the competition. Yet\u00a0Tottenham Hotspur\u00a0are more than capable \u2013 if maddeningly inconsistent \u2013 and it would be a great denouement to\u00a0Son Heung-min\u2019s incredible time in North London if he’s fit enough to be as much of the decisive player as United hope Fernandes will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chelsea FC are, to an extent, in the same boat as the other two English clubs in the UEFA finals. Almost overpowered in comparison to their competitors and expected to saunter home, especially having included Cole Palmer in the UEFA Conference League squad post-Christmas. It has been clear from September that they are the overwhelming favourites for this trophy but now, at the final hurdle, at least they have worthy opposition to contend with. The semi-final victory against ACF Fiorentina, and how Real Betis celebrated it, was everything European club competition should be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Betis come equipped with their best team in years and even if their 2025 surge looks to have to come too late to get them a UEFA Champions League spot via their standing in La Liga, they would quickly dismiss that as a disappointment if the season ended with the club’s first ever European silverware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How this will pave the way to the next few years of UEFA club competition remains to be seen. The logjam of quality at the top of the Premier League, with Newcastle United and Aston Villa joining the previously ring-fenced English UEFA Champions League places, might mean that English teams further dominate the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League in years to come, almost by default. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The counterpoint is that Italy and France have also developed incredibly competitive races for European places. It feels as if even with the extra competition, tickets to ride in Europe are maybe even more precious than ever. Either way, it doesn\u2019t feel like the traditional powers of recent seasons are going to be able to monopolise the UEFA Champions League over the next few years. The field is as open as these three finals promise to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ahead of the three intriguing finals, we find ourselves reviewing a new era for UEFA club competition. It started with a revamp few understood \u2013 or few cared to understand. Now we\u2019re approaching the moment of truth in the 2024-25 season it feels as though the new UEFA Champions League format has been in place… <\/p>\n

Read More<\/i><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[578,616,235,45,358,617,212,180,615,338],"class_list":["post-3938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-previews-and-predictions","tag-andy-brassell","tag-chelsea-fc","tag-internazionale","tag-manchester-united","tag-paris-saint-germain","tag-real-betis","tag-tottenham-hotspur","tag-uefa-champions-league","tag-uefa-conference-league","tag-uefa-europa-league"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/icons.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/UEFA-Club-Finals.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfQcey-11w","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3364,"url":"https:\/\/www.icons.com\/news\/2024\/09\/17\/andy-brassell-what-to-watch-on-matchday-one-of-the-new-uefa-champions-league\/","url_meta":{"origin":3938,"position":0},"title":"ANDY BRASSELL: What To Watch On Matchday One Of The New UEFA Champions League","author":"Andy Brassell","date":"September 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The newly-reformatted UEFA Champions League is here! 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