IT’S A FINANCIAL BRIDGE TOO FAR
Champions League is a non-event for rich versus poor clashes
CHELSEA hit six past Qarabag. Manchester United’s players got pulled up by their manager for only winning 3-0 against a Basle team who have claimed the Swiss title for eight seasons on the bounce.
Anderlecht never stood a chance in Munich. And we all know what happened at Celtic Park.
If Brendan Rodgers and his players can take little comfort from being part of a wider trend, rather than some outlying freak result, it is telling that even their heaviest-ever home European defeat wasn’t the most outlandish scoreline on matchday one of the 2017-18 Champions League.
The aggregate score between the victors and the vanquished, before last night’s fixtures, stood at a whopping 25-3. Across eight games.
The crisis of (non) competition undermining the world’s most lucrative club tournament has rarely been more apparent.
Without ever wishing to downplay their own shortcomings in trying to stymie Paris SaintGermain, Celtic’s players must occasionally feel as if all resistance is futile.
‘They are on a different level,’ said Mikael Lustig, a defender who has faced some of the world’s greatest club and international sides.
The Swede, who has 60 caps for his country and a wealth of Champions League experience on his side, added: ‘They are probably up there with the best teams I have faced in my career.
‘They are probably better than Barcelona last year. They have no weak links. Every single player is unbelievable on the ball.
‘We probably created a few more chances against them than we did against Barcelona — but they are an amazing team.
‘If you spend a lot of money, it is no shock that you will have a team like that.
‘We were poor in the first half. We didn’t look like ourselves. In the second half, we were a bit better. But they are on a different level.
‘Is it impossible to bridge that gap? You need to have a bit of luck with the chances you get.
‘You need to keep a clean sheet for as long as possible, too. But I don’t know…
‘We knew we were up against a very good side. They have worldclass players in every position.’
It is a truth universally accepted that, even before a ball was kicked in Group B, Celtic and Anderlecht were eyeing each other up as their main rivals for the only prize within the grasp of either team.
All that coded talk about ‘securing European football beyond Christmas’, leaving just enough room for the dreamers to imagine a return to the Champions League last 16… come off it.
Now? Everyone understands that the champions of Scotland and Belgium, teams with just the 82 national league titles between them, are scrapping over third place and that Europa League consolation prize.
‘The Anderlecht games are the key,’ said Lustig, briefly turning his thoughts towards Brussels in a fortnight’s time. ‘Against PSG, if we turn up and have a bad day, and they have a good day, then that result happens.
‘We feel like we could’ve created a few more chances against PSG if we’d played well.
‘But, if they turn up and play to that level, then it’s hard to stop.’
Arguments about the grounding available to Celtic at home, typified by a run of fixtures that goes Hamilton-PSG-Ross County, will rage once again. Jozo Simunovic, while preaching realism in the face of global economics, isn’t going to use that as an excuse.
The centre-back, who may still be spinning after a night of trying to contain Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani, sometimes all three at once, showed a nice line in understatement as he admitted: ‘It is different from domestically. But every game is different and new for us. We know we need to be better.
‘The score against PSG shows everything. We have to be realistic because PSG are one of the top teams in the world.
‘We will see where we are after the next game against Anderlecht. We have to be prepared for that game.
‘It is the game where we can look for points. We will do everything to make sure we will do that.’
It already feels as if Celtic’s entire European campaign rests on getting something from their first meeting with the Belgians.
A point there, beat them at home in that group-closing fixture in early December — and that should see them finish third? It could come down to that.
Whether such a lop-sided competition is sustainable, of course, is an issue for everyone with an interest in European football. Including the super-rich clubs currently enjoying their embedded status at the summit.
There’s a reason why the English Premier League is so popular all over the world. A reason why American sports, with their draft system constantly mitigating against domination by a single side, remain the exemplar when it comes to broadcasting rights values.
Strip it back further. Why do you think the NBA gets more attention than the Harlem Globetrotters? People want to see competition. Actual, honest-togoodness, genuinely dramatic tension about which team might win… not just whether their bet on 7-0 will come up.
Unfortunately, the answer for many — including UEFA and the super-clubs forever threatening the governing body with the nuclear option of a breakaway — is to make the competition more elite still.
Drop the ‘diddy’ teams, make the Champions League groups all about the very richest clubs from the wealthiest and most powerful nations, and the pesky problem about a lack of balance is solved.
That’s why the new format rolling out next year guarantees places for sides from certain leagues and teams with the right kind of history, retaining the much-vaunted ‘champions route’ but making it ever harder for title winners from middle-ranked countries to get beyond the qualifiers.
It all sounds like the perfect model for some rotten dystopia, a divided Europe reminiscent of a particularly gloomy Bruce Springsteen lyric.
‘Down here, it’s just winners and losers and don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line.’ The particular ode to hopelessness where that stark line can be found goes by the title of Atlantic City.
Well, this year’s gaggle of wide-eyed Champions League outsiders probably feel as if they’re betting against the house at the Tropicana.
Enjoying the free buffet and the floor show. But knowing they have no chance of avoiding heavy losses.