PSG won the very first edition of the Champions League on May 31 on May 31, with an unprecedented dam prior to the knockout stages. A victorious journey that has found its origins in pain, after a first calamitous first phase. In an emerging formula that was not without imperfection then.
Aware of the flaws thus observed during this new edition, UEFA has rectified the shot and validated this summer of changes which will not be without consequences. By cheerfully valuing, and logically, the committed engaged from the first to the eighth places at the end of the initial phase of the competition.
From now on, they will have the assurance of receiving during the eighth return. When a draw determined the order of posters last season. The first four will also have this warranty in the quarterfinals as well. And the first two will have the luxury of welcoming them to the semi-finals included. A privilege that could have benefited for example Barça, second in the regular phase and yet forced to travel to Dortmund in quarter return and in Milan in a half return.
The PSG course in the Champions League would not have been the same
A note that this significant advantage will come back to any team capable of eliminating an opponent from the Top 8. Liverpool executioner, leader of the first part of the tournament, PSG could thus have received Aston Villa at the Parc des Princes in the quarterfinals. And not the reverse, with the big fright that we know for Parisians in Birmingham (2-3 defeat after a 3-1 success).
This small revolution in the new format of the Champions League will also be worth for the other two continental competitions stamped UEFA. Namely the Europa League and the conference league.
