Football Ground Map
Football Ground Map
The new-look UEFA Champions League returns this week with fans around the world eager to see what happens next in Europe's showpiece football event.
This season's competition is the first in the new format with the previous World Cup style 4-team mini leagues replaced with one group of 36 teams. Each team plays a total of 8 matches with the top 8 advancing automatically to the next round.
The increase in teams will see a big increase in the number of games played - which is great for those of us who enjoy watching live footy. The new format sees 189 matches now being played - an increase of 64 games on the previous format.
The final will be played at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. As ever, the match is intended to be the last major game of the season in Europe and is scheduled to take place at 9pm CET on Saturday May 31st (that's 8pm UK time).
The Allianz Arena is one of the biggest stadiums in Germany with a capacity of 75,024, beaten only by Borussia Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park. The ground is home to German giants Bayern Munich who have won the Bundesliga a record 33 times.
The stadium is no stranger to important matches. It was the venue for the 2012 UCL final which saw Chelsea beat home side Bayern Munich on penalties. The ground hosted 6 matches in the 2006 World Cup including Germany's 4-2 win over Costa Rica in the opening match and France's 1-0 victory over Portugal in one of the semi-finals.
The Allianz Arena was again the venue for the opening match of Euro 2024 with the host nation hammering Scotland 5-1. It hosted a further 5 matches at the tournament including Spain's 2-1 victory over France in the semi-finals.
The new 36 team league format is throwing up a few surprises in its inaugural season. Liverpool currently lead the way with a perfect 6 wins from 6. Barcelona are 3 points behind in second place, ahead of Arsenal, German champions Bayer Leverkusen and Inter Milan.
The rest of the top 8 are more surprising though - Aston Villa currently sit in 5th with 4 wins so far including an impressive 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich and 3-2 win away at Leipzig. Villa travel to Monaco before hosting Celtic in their final two matches.
The last 2 teams occupying the automatic qualification places are perhaps a bigger surprise with French sides Brest and Lille upsetting some of Europe's elite. The sides qualified for the competition after finishing 3rd and 4th in Ligue 1 last season. Lille are looking for a similar finish this season, finding themselves in 3rd place, currently 14 points behind leaders PSG. Brest's excellent Champions League form is affecting their league position this year though, with the club currently in 9th place - closer to the relegation zone than the top of the table.
Let's not let that detract from their achievements in this season's Champions League though - victories over Sturm Graz, RB Salzburg, Sparta Prague and PSV Eindhoven see Brest sitting up in 7th place currently.
That's even more impressive when you look at the teams below them in the table - a who's who of European footballing royalty including Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Milan and Juventus.
The new format is causing a few surprises with Real Madrid, Man City and PSG all struggling to qualify for the next phase.
Real Madrid currently sit in 20th place with 3 victories and 3 defeats - their fixtures have been harder than most though, so far having to play Dortmund, Milan and Liverpool. Their final two group games against RB Salzburg and Brest should give them enough points to qualify for the next stage (on paper at least).
Man City's well-documented domestic troubles have spilled over into a poor Champions League campaign which has seen them hammered 4-1 at Sporting CP and concede 3 goals at home to Feyenoord in a 3-3 draw. A trip to PSG is amongst their finals two fixtures, so qualification to the next phase is far from assured.
Our third surprise struggler is PSG. The departures of superstars such as Messi and Mbappe mean they may not have the squad of a few years ago, but they still sit top of the Ligue 1 table as they look for the 11th title since 2013.
The Parisian giants are having a disappointing season in the UCL though and currently sit 25th which would see them eliminated from all European competitions this season. The fixtures haven't been kind to PSG with Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich in their list of group stage opponents so far. And it doesn't get much easier for the French champions who host Man City and then face a tricky trip to Stuttgart in their final two games.
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