UEFA’s Champions League draw scandal on Monday is likely to further entrench the position of the three clubs still pushing for the European Super League – Real Madrid, Juventus and Barcelona.
A “technical problem” occurred during the Champions League Round of 16 draw on Monday, with Manchester United being erroneously drawn against Villarreal, something that should have been impossible considering both teams progressed from the same group.
The errors continued into the next draw, when Manchester United were not included in the pool of teams that Atletico Madrid could have faced. UEFA decided to completely re-do the draw hours later, including the first drawn match of Real Madrid vs Benfica.
The new draw saw Real Madrid pitted up against Paris Saint-Germain, a significantly tougher opponent for a Round of 16 clash. Los Blancos were enraged by this and president Florentino Perez made it clear that he was opposed to the re-draw as soon as the idea was proposed.
Real Madrid have named the re-draw a ‘scandal’ and their position on the Super League is now even further entrenched, feeling completely ill-treated by UEFA’s conduct.
Would UEFA’s Champions League draw mistake have been noticed if it wasn’t for Man United?
Juventus, who are also still involved in the Super League project, were less public with their feelings, instead simply posting a surprised emoji on their social media. The Bianconeri’s initial draw was Sporting and the re-draw saw them be pitted up against Villarreal instead, two opponents of a similar strength level.
Barcelona, who will face Napoli in the Europa League Round of 16 playoffs in February, have not yet publicly commented, but it’s likely that they share a similar position to Real Madrid.
The three clubs are still committed to the controversial Super League project and with the EU’s decision to put a stop to the proposal, the matter will now be fought in the European Court of Justice. UEFA’s drawing error will have only exacerbated the situation and further convinced the three clubs that their project is the correct one to pursue, despite negative fan reactions, especially in the UK.
It’s possible that the Super League’s case in the European Court of Justice could be stronger now – a key element of their proposal is unhappiness at UEFA’s monopoly over European club competition, and so the Champions League draw scandal could be used as ammunition to backup their case for a separate competition.
UEFA’s position was already a little weakened in October following the calls from Fifpro, the international players’ union, and European Leagues, who represent domestic leagues across Europe, who asked UEFA to completely reform their governance in order to curb the threat of a European Super League.
I doubt it. Of all the possible reasons for the Super League to exist, UEFA having a technical glitch is not one of them.
Barcelona are not even in the CL knockouts!
Come on. Some technical issues at a draw are good enough reason to leave UEFA and open their own money-focused, exclusive league that will undoubtedly turn into two 30-minute half of WWE scripted storylines.
Super league is dead and buried for good thanks to British football fans
Nope, SL is not dead and buried. And nope, once english fans see their clubs need more and more money, they will change their tune
UEFA is as corrupt as it gets and this will be the final nail in the coffin.
Mark my words: SL will be a reality in the future
true true
UEFA has been flooding Europe with Quantity of Soccer which leads to just crappy soccer and teams being plagued with Injuries – the older I get the weaker soccer is becoming. What I want is quality soccer and the Super League will guarantee that ! I don’t want to see Juve face malmo or Inter vs Sheriff ……. i want to see the big boys face each other every year several times a year !!
Once upon a time I too was against the creation of the Super League. But I starting to see things differently. Uefa and Fifa are the ultimate mafia and are the ultimate swamp. Think about how the CL was formed and how it expanded to now 4 spots for the big leagues. The smaller teams like Spezia, Getafe to Burnley have no hope of getting into the champions league. Leicester was a one off. The game needs to change. Soon Juventus will not even be able to compete for players even using loan deals. Barcelona are on life support and Real Madrid are hiding the debt behind the sofa. Like everything in life, businesses need to change, adapt and be creative just like technology. To be honest nobody wants to watch Zenit vs Malmo and that is pure fact unless you support them. Maybe Al-Khelaifi will be rethinking his stance as his good pal Ceferin and partners put them with Real Madrid.
The super league is not dead if the format changes slightly to be more inclusive. It’s a good concept that will lead to a better football spectacle and less corruption form the likes of UEFA. Whilst the fans had their say, the real reason the English clubs pulled out that they realised that La Liga and Serie A are wounded financially and the status quo suits the big money EPL clubs even more now – just look at the recent UCL results. Man City was the first to pull out as they would have the most to lose if a Super League was introduced as it would create more competition for them. Money bags PSG refused to sign up to the Super League for the same reason. That’s why it was particularly disappointing that Inter, Milan and Atletico panicked and pulled out – they should have had some balls and stuck together as a significant block.
@I MISS MARCO BRANCA AT INTER… Damn you! This ” the older I get the weaker soccer is becoming” and “Quantity of Soccer leads to just crappy soccer”.
The unimaginable just happened and I completely agree with, actually twice!!! Well said.
Like how @frankie mentioned and I said it several times previously as well, I really wanted Inter, Milan and Atletico Madrid had more balls and stayed with pact. At least for a change in UEFA.
So many plastics.
Of you really follow football that long you should lnow football was best in the 90ies.
When Marseille and Crveda Zvevda could rival for being the best.
New 24 UCL format is already broken, stronger leagues will be even stronger. This will ironically benefit PL clubs more.
In Superleague Milan and Inter would still be the poorest. After 3 years everybody would be bored of the format. It would crash hard as all SL would promote would be debts not proper management
Football is not video games nor should be
Well said @Stam
@Stam, enough with bragging your self with “i’m old man and been watching football since 30 years ago and new generations MUST treat football like I do or I will call them plastics”. Stop it man.. That’s embarrassing. FYI, the Super League is for the new generations and they really love video games and will deeply appreciate if football is like video games where their fav team can play big match every week. Meanwhile, you and me are going to die and this new generations that you call plastics are still alive and happily spend their money for the new format. Do you see where i’m going here?
Ribas you are spot on. These dinosaurs do not like to evolve and I think they need to see how mobile phones have always get more advanced. Football like anything in life has to change or big clubs outside of the EPL bubble will suffocate. Some are already on life support and Uefa’s competition does not distribute the money evenly nor does it make a difference to clubs such as Juventus as well as others. It is true the young fans get bored, need new creations and football has to follow the money or go bust.