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Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti came out in the form of the new Champions League this season in the wake of the first edition of the “League stage” that ended this week.
UEFA has fixed the Premier Club competition this season, as it canceled the group stage in favor of one league table and increased the number of prior matches from six to eight.
“A very large number of matches”, Ancelotti’s response to reporters on Wednesday evening when he asked his evaluation to coordinate the new league stage.
Ancelotti denied that the increasing demand had a negative impact that is not specific to Madrid, but he repeated a long -term view that elite football needs fewer games.
“There was a lot, but everyone,” he said. “At this moment in football, we have to remove matches, not add more. This is my opinion.”
In the previous seasons, the first two teams in each group qualified for another 16. This time, only the first eight in the league phase was guaranteed a place in that round. The next sixteen, the next sixteen, which includes Madrid, after several disappointing results, must first move in a legs with legs instead.
He adds more matches to the table. To reach the final again this season, Madrid had to play four times more than they did in 2023/24. The final match will be the seventeenth European Champions League game for them this season, compared to the thirteenth season last season.
The new World Cup, which is 32 teams for the club, is still located against Madrid in the summer, and the club’s season extends to July. FIFA also added the Intercontinental Cup to the calendar in December.
When UEFA increased the number of Champions League participants from 24 to 32 in 1999, a second group stage was created that added six additional matches for competing clubs, up to 17 in total for competitors. Replacing the second group stage with the last 16 in 2003 greatly reduced the demands and automatically took four games of the table. However, after 21 years, UEFA once again decided that more football, despite calls against it, was the way to go.
Because of their position in the league, 11th, Madrid has a 50/50 chance to face a perennial enemies in Manchester City in the match round with a knockout. But Ancelotti is not actually very annoyed with it, while admitting that to earn the competition, it is necessary to face the largest parties at some point regardless, whether later or in the near future.
“There will be a lottery and anything that comes, not much changes: to win the Champions League, you must overcome the biggest teams,” he said.
