Comments on: The True Value of The “Champions” League

By: Ahmed Bilal

Ahmed Bilal — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:00:11 +0000

@Dale,

regarding that last point, you would get a clear winner – Arsenal would take the lead in the first two dozen games but surely and slowly Chelsea would beat them in the end, 60-40, or 30-20 with 50 draws thrown in between.

A 10-game margin, or a 1-goal margin, is clear enough for me mate.

By: Dale

Dale — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:36:06 +0000

This is obviously a biased piece. I see flaw in your opinion in the sense that if a team like Arsenal were not present in the format, then Teams like Barca, Man U, Inter, Real Madrid, Chelski would always win, Always, I think the name of the competition should chnage, like how they changed the Uefa Cup to Europa..if anything, it should have chnage it to Europa Championship League or something..not Champions League..if anything at all. Now excluding an exciting team like Arsenal would make no sense..Put Arsenal and Chelsea head to head a hundred times and you might not get a clear winner.

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:56:40 +0000

I think UEFA should go back to the old system. 1 team (The Title winners) from each country Plus the League cup winners. The rest play in Europa. Good job Barca!

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:13:24 +0000

Are Arsenal champions of anything this year?
No.

Do they deserve to be in the Champions League?
Yes, especially when they defeat teams that “obviously deserve” to be in the competition handedly say whatever inferior league champion they will crush on their way to qualifying for the group stages. To deny the fact that teams such as Arsenal, Liverpool, or Barcelona (according to your system as Madridista pointed out) deserve to be in this competition less than a BATE or a Bohemians is ludicrous.

Yes, these lesser league champions deserve to be in the competition, but when the third and fourth teams in the EPL, La Liga, or Serie A could run rampant in many of these lower leagues I, and any reasonable (non-Chelski) fan, would have to admit them into the competition as well.

I think you are just bitter about the loss and want to find something wrong with the competition rather than reflect on a reasonably good year.

By: Ruud van Nistelrooy

Ruud van Nistelrooy — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:53:13 +0000

Was? Ich habe keine Idea. Gesundheit!

By: Madridista

Madridista — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:19:43 +0000

I’m not sure where you’re going with this. If you’re talking about the discrepancy between the fact that the Champions League is called the “Champions” League and the fact that Arsenal are not champions in any of their domestic competitions, and therefore the Champions League doesn’t deserve to be called the Champions League (but Chelsea should be allowed to play because they’re one of the best clubs in Europe) -

then fine, let’s change the name of the Champions League to “Liga der Besten” or something (someone come up with something better, please).

Let’s also point out that if *only* league champions went through, regardless of the strength of the league, then Barcelona wouldn’t have played in this final. 2008… 2007: Milan weren’t Serie A champions in either 06 or 07. 2006… 2005: Liverpool weren’t EPL champions in either 04 or 05. et cetera.

By: Mike Sikes

Mike Sikes — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:10:36 +0000

“1. Big League Champions (Man Utd, Inter, Real Madrid)”

??? Give respect where it is due, Barca is the Champion of La Liga, not madrid. I hope everyone already knows that but for the saps that don’t, please don’t give them the impression that Barca is a runner up to Madrid.

By: Neli G

Neli G — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:31:06 +0000

so youve written an article differentiating between the prerequisites for playing in the old european cup and champions league?