Most EC semis 27 Real 18 Bayern 17 Barca 13 AC 12 Man U 11 Juve 9 Liverpool 8 Inter 7 Chelsea Interesting how many semis clubs play now in relation to CL wins. Very different to the procession the European Cup was in the 70s and 80s.
Agree, but in a way it is harder to win now. Even if you qualify as champs you may have to play second-placed Liga side etc, rather than Bruges or Malmo!
It's not easier to win now. It's just stuffed full of ****e. You could pretty much hand pick the last 8 from the teams that entered. Waste of time and a cup for the 1992 mob to glorify.
Real, Bayern and Barca essentially have a bye into it every year and through the groups, too. Their league also helps them by moving their fixtures to give them an appropriate amount of rest for these games. Ours does the opposite a lot of the time in order to sate the gods of Sky and BT.
True but many of those predictable last 8 are 2nd/3rd/4th placed sides. It proves that the quality of those 2nd/3rd/4th placed sides from cerain leagues is better than many of the league champions hence why the latter find it much tougher to get to the s/f and finals. Hence why it's tougher overall to win than the pre-1992 mob like to trivialise
In fact I'd go further... The group stages are stuffed full of ****e, so I'd completely change the summer pre-qualifiers and have the top 4th/5th and possibly 6th pkaced clubs from countries like England, Spain, Italy (maybe just 4th from Germany, France and Holland) play the champions from the minnow countries. If they're good enough to get past them in the summer then so bit it, and they go on to make the Group Stages stronger. For example, who is more likely to make the CL stronger in the Group Stages, BATE or Liverpool? So if you want to make the Group Stages and the last 8 less predictable, then make the qualification of the strongest clubs in europe easier. The strongest clubs in Europe > The league champions in Europe
