Real Madrid lost to Liverpool on Wednesday, and in a previous era that might have been the case. Three Champions League defeats in five attempts were once crippling. Losses to Lille and AC Milan would have jeopardized any European campaign. A third, 2-0 at Anfield, might have ended it.
However, Real Madrid are alive and well in the 2024/25 competition precisely because of the new Champions League format that their president hates.
“[The] new model will have more games and less interest. It’s an absurd competition,” Florentino Perez said last November.
Now it is the only reason why his club is still title contenders.
Los Blancos stumbled again on Wednesday, on a blustery evening in the northwest of England. They succumbed to Liverpool’s pressure early in the second half. Their only shot on target was their best chance to equalize: a penalty that Kylian Mbappé failed to convert.
Their obvious excuse is injuries. They have been weakened by a growing list of absentees, which now includes Aurélien Tchouaméni, Rodrygo, three key defenders and Vinícius Júnior. But the stars that remain have been faint. Mbappé was terrible on Wednesday. On the early days of play, the entire team looked disjointed, disinterested, or both.
And the results were dismal. They needed late goals to beat Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund. They fell in France and then at home to struggling AC Milan.
For decades, such a start to the Champions League would have jeopardized their progress to the knockout stages. The old format – 32 teams, eight groups of four, the best two in each group – was relatively brutal. It provided some leeway, and as inequality within European football widened, giants rarely fell. But when they collided repeatedly, they were gone.
However, in response to pressure from super clubs such as Real Madrid, UEFA has expanded and revised the format. Now there is a ‘competition phase’, from which 24 (out of 36) teams will progress. After five rounds, three of which remain, Real are in 24th place, with six points, on the bubble of 24.
In other words: the Galacticos, the preseason favorites were insufficient; but as things stand, they would still advance to the first knockout round. They would still be favored, regardless of their opponent, to win and advance to the Round of 16, as they have done for 27 consecutive seasons.
And their savior would be the new Champions League structure that Perez finds ‘absurd’.
He says that because he is the biggest supporter of a European Super League. He was the architect of the project that failed in 2021. He was the most powerful force behind attempts to revive the Super League last December. “The Super League is needed more than ever,” he said.
So he hated the compromise, UEFA’s new Champions League format, in which more giants faced giants in the competition phase, but the competition was diluted. Last Sunday he repeated his criticism.
“The new format of the Champions League has not proven to be a solution, as we predicted,” Perez said in a lengthy speech at Real Madrid’s annual general meeting. “It has increased the number of matches but reduced the value of each match. The competition will only ignite fans’ passion at the end and not at the beginning as expected.”
And then, three days later, his floundering team stoked the fans’ passion by losing again.
Real Madrid have been so bad that their league games have suddenly become meaningful.
Next up is a trip to Atalanta on matchday 6 (December 10). The defeat there, in Bergamo, Italy, would disappear Los Blancos on the outside watching the knockouts.
But even then, wins in their last two games – against Salzburg and Brest – would almost certainly be enough.
Perez is right in many ways: the new format has devalued these early rounds as losses have become relatively insignificant.
And in the most ironic twist, it is his club, the defending champions, the kings of Europe, Real Madrid, who are likely to benefit.
