New-look Champions League is a pointless waste of time that will destroy the drama | Jonathan Wilson

Swiss system pushed by Juventus’s Andrea Agnelli will generate meaningless matches and worsen football’s inequality

After being eliminated by Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final in 2018, Juventus took decisive action. What was needed, they decided, was a guarantee of goals who could transform their two defeats in finals in the previous three years into gold. So they bought Cristiano Ronaldo for €100m, paying him more than the next four highest-paid players at the club put together, even though he was 33 and even though his individualistic immobility made him anachronistic at elite level.

Given the choice between structural reform that might have tackled the recurring problems and signing big names, of course, executives almost always plump for the latter. It’s glamorous, makes them feel important and doesn’t require any real work or understanding of football. And it will have a far greater short-term impact on social media eyeballs than overhauling the data analysis department, or improving scouting or recruitment, or any of the other vital unseen aspects of infrastructure.

Related: Fans across Europe speak out against Champions League expansion

The potential for collusion, for mutually beneficial draws in the final weeks, is obvious

First used in a Zurich chess tournament over a century ago, the 'Swiss system' has rarely featured in elite sport - but that could change if Uefa agrees a radical shake-up of the Champions League group stages.

Related: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are costly albatrosses weighing their clubs down | Jonathan Wilson

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