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Newcastle United A good advertisement for the elderly Champions League Format. They are also victims of this. They appear to be beneficiaries of the new system, even if a trip to Paris may cost them again.
The seventh place now has one game left and they will face another tense final day of the first stage. Two years ago, and within half an hourthey went from a position of Champions League qualification to a position where they seemed poised to enter the Europa League or even exit Europe altogether. Here are the second, third and fourth places in Group F: The system of four teams forming a group is simple. There was a viciousness, too: when Newcastle fell from the lead AC Milan Losing to them, there is no safety net.
It’s now safe to say that Newcastle United will have more of a presence at various stages next Wednesday, with 18 games starting simultaneously, 11 of them – including 12 against Manchester United paris saint germain – can change their equations. this The table may need to be recalculated every few minutes.
Newcastle started the campaign as one of eight clubs with 13 points, followed by two clubs with 12 points. This seems to be evidence of healthy competitiveness, even if this egalitarian branding does not extend across Europe. Eight of the 10 teams ply their trade in one of the three domestic leagues – the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga – and of the top 16 clubs, only the French and Portuguese champions are not from England, Italy, Spain or Germany.
A criticism of a 36-team format, of which 24 have made some progress, is that it creates a dangerous illusion. That might not be entirely fair considering last season’s play-off opponents were Manchester City, AC Milan and Juventus. The motivation to avoid this isn’t just limited to a few weeks in February.
Perhaps, if there was not a so-called elite team that performed as badly as Manchester City did at that time, there would not be a game of the scale of Manchester City versus Real Madrid in the top 24. However, at least one team currently ranked only in the top 16 – Inter Milan, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund – could fall below the dotted line and establish a similar powerhouse.
A more important dividing line seems to separate the top eight from the rest. Newcastle United moved up six places after scoring three goals against PSV on Wednesday. However, the ever-changing nature of the rankings provides some entertainment Eddie Howe Wednesday’s game was so focused on PSV that there was no time to study the implications or check other people’s results. A fourth game against the Dutch champions means Newcastle can finish above Paris Saint-Germain in goals scored at the Parc des Princes. However, that may not matter as a win in the French capital is likely to be needed to secure a top eight spot.
Newcastle hovered near the dividing line in every round. They were 11th after the second matchday, 8th after the third, 6th after the 4th, 11th after the 5th and 13th after the 6th; always in contention but never quite there. In the final calculation, the loss of leads away from home against Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen could be decisive. Germany’s concession to equalize in the 88th minute was perhaps particularly galling and telling.
But if this is indicative of the narrowing of the gap, one of the problems for the Old Four is that there are so few teams that are this dangerous. Yet Newcastle did. They are drawn by Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund for the 2023-24 season: their lack of recent European pedigree means they are the fourth seed. They finished fourth. Two years later, Newcastle were placed in Pot 4 due to another low UEFA coefficient; their peers included Paphos, Qarabagh and Kairat.
Different systems allow two teams from each division to meet. This time, Newcastle have never achieved a victory as spectacular as the 4-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain at St James’ Park in 2023, and no night can compare. But they have already beaten Europe’s mid-level powers: League Saint-Gilius, Benfica, Athletic Bilbao and PSV. These wins have all been efficient, with each victory coming with a clean sheet. Their guaranteed play-off place would be their furthest in the competition for two decades.
To look at it from another perspective, though, Newcastle United have only beaten one team in Europe’s top five leagues, Athletic Club. Premier League resources should allow English clubs The most favored person compared to others.
If things turn out to be more unpredictable than that – City lost to Bodo/Glimt, Liverpool lost to Galatasaray and PSV, while Chelsea dropped two points against Qarabag – such results have helped UEFA set up a shock showdown for eighth place. This may still not be as high-profile as Newcastle’s final group game in 2023, but perhaps the problem with the old format was that few groups were as high-profile as Newcastle, AC Milan, PSG and Borussia Dortmund.