The surprising developments of the new Champions League

SURFACE ATTRACTION

Only two teams have won all three of their opening games, Aston Villa and Liverpool. Manchester City are right behind them, with two wins and one draw. In other words, three English teams are leading the league table. The other Premier League side, Arsenal, are not far behind, actually level on points with Manchester City.

Bayern Munich only had 1 win after 3 matches, while Jhon Duran (number 9) suddenly played brilliantly, helping Aston Villa fly high in the Champions League.

Surprisingly, the two French teams, Monaco and Brest, are both right behind the three English teams. Right now, the top eight, the list of teams that have advanced directly to the round of 16, does not include any La Liga representatives. In addition to the five English and French teams mentioned above, the top eight also includes Leverkusen (Germany), Inter (Italy), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal). Arsenal are tied with these teams on points, in ninth place.

This season, Germany and Spain have five representatives in the Champions League. But Atletico Madrid (Spain) and RB Leipzig (Germany) are both in the bottom 12 - the group of teams that will be eliminated when the "league" phase ends with 8 rounds. The remaining German teams (Borussia Dortmund, Stuttgart, Bayern Munich) and Spanish teams (Girona, Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid) are all in the middle, the group of teams that will continue to play-off to compete for a place in the round of 16. Overall, it is a result that is not as expected by German and Spanish fans. In detail, the Bundesliga representatives are more disappointing when RB Leipzig lost all 3 matches, while the giant Bayern also lost 2/3 matches.

Monaco beat Barcelona 2-1, Aston Villa beat Bayern 1-0, Lille beat Real 1-0, Juventus lost to Stuttgart 0-1, Atletico lost to Lille 1-3 are the notable surprises in the past 3 rounds. The results are not surprising but the notable ones are Real beat Dortmund 5-2, Barcelona beat Bayern 4-1.

Surprise, excitement, drama - the elements that make the king of sports attractive - have all appeared in the last 3 rounds. Rarely, if ever, has the Champions League had so many big matches right from the first stage like this season. In the Real - Dortmund match, the away team led by 2 goals in just over half an hour of play. When the match had only 5 minutes left, the score was 2-2. But in the end, Real won 5-2! Bayern has always won against Barcelona (and always scored at least 3 goals) in the last 6 matches, but when they met this time, they were crushed by Barcelona 1-4. Girona lost consecutively to PSG 0-1 and Feyenoord 2-3 only because of 1 own goal in the previous match and... 2 own goals in the next match!

BEWARE OF… FAKE PROGRESS!

Never before has top-flight football seen such a strange format as the "league" phase of this season's Champions League: all are ranked in a common group of 36 teams, but each team only plays 8 matches against 8 specific opponents. What the results of the "summit" matches, or the big surprises, will ultimately lead to, observers have not dared to discuss!

According to Opta's calculator, any team with just 10 points has a 99% chance of being in the top 24, meaning they haven't been eliminated after the end of the "league" stage. So Aston Villa and Liverpool are almost done after just the first 3 matches. Manchester City, Brest, Monaco, Leverkusen, Inter, Sporting, Arsenal all only need to win 1 of the remaining 5 matches to be assured, at least to have a play-off spot. On the other hand, 10 points from 8 matches is too easy for "big guys" like Bayern, Real, meaning that even if they unexpectedly lose 1-2 more matches, they still have a good chance of going on. If that's the case, then the new "Swiss system" format of the Champions League is... too unrealistic.

Monaco or Aston Villa are both in the last group of teams when drawing lots, and when they beat teams in the top seed group like Barcelona, ​​Bayern, it is a sustainable result, because the matches in this format are only 1 round, the weaker team does not have to worry about losing again in the second leg like in the old format. That is also the detail that makes the situation this season more "unreal"!

Jhon Duran (Aston Villa), Raphinha (Barcelona), Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool)… are the new stars shining this season. Anyway, there are still many interesting things ahead, worth waiting for fans to watch in the new format of the Champions League. The next round will take place on November 5 and 6.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dien-tien-bat-ngo-cua-champions-league-moi-la-185241024230014814.htm