New Champions League format invites goal fests

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The 2024-25 Champions League has already produced nine crushing wins in just two matchdays, twice as many as in the entire 2023-24 season in the top continental competition. The change of format, the qualification criteria and the greater inequality in the matches are some of the keys to this change.

2 months ago
The new Champions League format has changed the way all the teams play. It is all due to the different qualification criteria, in which the goal difference at the end of the eight rounds now takes precedence in the event of a tie on points.
All the big clubs in Europe want to be in the top eight positions in order to avoid a play-off round, to avoid two more matches in an already overloaded season.
That is why in these first two matchdays we are seeing goals fests, both because of the difference in level between the teams and because of the qualification system for the next round.
On the first matchday of this new Champions League, there were 3 matches in which the goal difference was 4 or more. Celtic 5-1 Slovan Bratislava, Feyenoord 0-4 Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern 9-2 Dinamo Zagreb. In addition, three more matches ended with a three-goal difference: Young Boys 0-3 Asotn Villa, Sparta Prague 3-0 Salzburg and Brugge 0-3 Borussia Dortmund">Borussia Dortmund.
The momentum has not stopped on matchday two. On Tuesday alone, another five matches were played with a difference of four goals or more in favour of one team: Salzburg 0-4 Brest, Barcelona 5-0 Young Boys, Borussia Dortmund 7-1 Celtic, Inter 4-0 Red Star and Slovan Bratislava 0-4 Manchester City, plus Benfica 4-0 Atletico Madrid.

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