The abolition of the prior rule prohibiting teams from the same country from being drawn against each other in the early knockout rounds of the Champions League opened the door for the round of 16 fixture between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen to take place—the standout of the eight clashes which put a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.
The first of two legs was a one-sided affair which almost certainly sealed Bayern’s spot in the quarter-finals. When Harry Kane opened the scoring for Bayern in the ninth minute, it immediately became obvious that Leverkusen were in for a difficult night at the Allianz Arena. However, despite dominating every facet of the match, Bayern were somewhat surprisingly unable to further increase their lead before the half-time break.
This changed soon after the interval following Leverkusen goalkeeper Matěj Kovář’s fumble of a cross sent in by Bayern winger Kingsley Coman. Jamal Musiala was in just the right spot to take advantage - which he duly did to put Bayern 2-0 ahead. Eight minutes later, it got even tougher for Leverkusen when defender Nordi Mukiele was tossed after picking up a second yellow card.
Bayern put the finishing touch on the victory when Kane earned and converted a penalty in the 75th minute. The Bavarian club’s 3-0 win has now left Leverkusen with an almost-impossible task heading into the second leg at the BayArena; on only four occasions in Champions League history has a team overturned a three-goal deficit from the first leg to advance to the next round.
While there are many points to consider regarding this match, one of the most notable has to be about the circumstances which even made this match possible in the first place. Although UEFA have taken much criticism for a number of their decisions in recent years - often deservedly so at that - their tweaking of the Champions League format has proven to be a masterstroke.
By changing the format of the opening round to a Swiss bracket, the number of matches with “nothing on the line” has been greatly reduced, creating a considerably more competitive environment. It’s no longer a guarantee that powerhouse teams who are seen as potential title contenders can just roll up and stroll into the round of 16. They now have to earn it the hard way - something teams such as Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, and most dramatically of all, Manchester City will readily attest to.
That being said, I would suggest two ways by which the Swiss bracket can be further improved. First off, as things are now, the top eight teams automatically qualify for the round of 16 while the teams finishing from ninth to 24th enter the play-ins for the remaining eight berths. This ought to be changed so that the top 12 automatically advance to the last 16 while the play-ins should involve the teams from 13th to 20th place.
Additionally, making the bracket a “true Swiss bracket” would dial up the excitement even more. In this way, each team would not know their next opponent until a re-draw after each matchday. All teams would be paired according to win-loss records up to that point. By accounting for what is known as “resistance”, the competitiveness of the opening round would be taken up another notch.
As for the decision to allow teams of the same country to play against each other as soon as the knockout rounds begin, UEFA got this one spot-on. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever for the initial rule to have been in place—it appears to have essentially been instituted arbitrarily. Over the years, this rule has prevented some truly epic matchups from happening for basically no reason at all.
Although the one-sidedness of Bayern’s victory over Leverkusen might not necessarily serve as the best advocate for the efficacy of rescinding the rule, there’s no question that it’s been a net positive for the tournament. With the removal of this restriction, the knockout rounds now serve as a truer test of who most deserves to make it to the final.
Despite the initial mass dismay which was the general reaction to the Champions League’s format changes, it’s now become evident that they ought to have been implemented years ago. Sometimes, a mass overhaul is indeed necessary - as has been shown this season.
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