Champions League final: ‘New format was exciting but only as a one-off’

It even had a redemption story in the figure of Philippe Coutinho, derided for leaving Liverpool for Barcelona in January 2018, subsequently missing out on a Champions League final appearance at the end of that season and watching from afar as his former club won it against Tottenham last season while his own career at the Nou Camp ran aground.

Coutinho is now a winner after coming on as a 68th-minute substitute for Bayern in Lisbon, the dysfunctional nature of his recent career – and the similar state of Barcelona – summed up by the Brazilian coming on as a substitute and scoring twice for his loan side against his parent club in that remarkable quarter-final.

So yes, the new format has been a success and the Champions League has the right winners.

For all that, however, this should be a one-off and the normal two-legged format should be restored if and when circumstances allow.

Uefa should resist the temptation to tamper with the format permanently, no matter how successful these last two weeks have been – but president Aleksander Ceferin has already been making noises suggesting this may not be the last we see of the new set-up.

These games have been dramatic and Uefa provided the perfect solution to the problem it faced, but the dramas the traditional format provided should not be wiped away.

Think of Manchester United’s comeback against Juventus in the second leg of the 1999 Champions League semi-final.

Think of Chelsea’s 2-2 draw against the odds against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona at the Nou Camp in 2012, Fernando Torres racing half the length of the field to secure a place in the final, and eventual victory against Bayern Munich in their own AllianzArena, after being reduced to ten men following captain John Terry’s red card.

Think of Barcelona’s remarkable recovery from 4-0 down to beat PSG in the last 16 in 2017, although the French side will harbour injustices forever about decisions that went against them in the Nou Camp that night.

Think of Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Barcelona at Anfield in the 2019 semi-final that allowed them to somehow overturn a 3-0 deficit from the first leg against Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and company.

And then the Champions League delivered Lucas Moura’s winner for Tottenham against Ajax five seconds from time in Amsterdam the following night to give them victory on away goals from 3-0 down on aggregate to take them into the final in Madrid.

The last two weeks have been a credit to the teams involved and the organisation required to take the Champions League on a different road to the one originally intended – but hopefully normal service and schedules can be resumed when it is safe and possible to do so.