The Fiver: The Round of Arsenal and The Stadium of 16 | Scott Murray

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The old European Cup, as was, would have gotten stale had the clever folk at Uefa not been the sort of creative, innovative, admirable go-getters who keep things moving forward all the time. All those clubs, big and small, building teams to win a national championship before embarking on a parlous campaign that hangs on a gossamer thread, in grave peril of ending at any given moment as a result of just one tiny mistake, players always working on the assumption that they only have one shot at glory (given the high barriers to entry and percentage chance of winning another league to qualify again) yet delivering under extreme pressure nonetheless? Well, all that had to go! Now, thanks to new improved Big Cup, the same clubs reach the same knockout stages year after year after year after year after year, achieving pretty much exactly the same thing, which in the majority of cases is sweet fanny all, though it doesn’t matter as they’ll be back again next time for another half-arsed pop and their cheque. Well done, Uefa! A radical and much-needed overhaul.

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