The Champions League announced new rules, Arsenal s adverse situation remains unchanged, Barcelona s embarrassment can be avoided

Although it is still in the traditional offseason of the summer and the Club World Cup has not yet ended, the new season's Champions League has actually begun. Like Swedish champion Malmo, he has a big away victory in the first round and is expected to advance to the next round of the qualifying round. UEFA has also announced new rules, and the embarrassment encountered by Barcelona last season can be avoided, but the adverse situation faced by Arsenal remains unchanged.

The rules of the Champions League have not changed much in the new season. 36 teams still participate in the main game, 29 of which have been confirmed, and 7 teams remaining need to be generated through the qualifying round. According to data from UEFA's official website, Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham, Newcastle and Villarreal, these four teams qualify for the competition through designated channels, namely the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, and the two highest points in the league awards.

In addition, there are 4 places in the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and Bundesliga, and 3 places in Ligue 1, but the seats in Paris cannot be deferred. There are 2 places in the Dutch Eredivisie, Portugal, Belgium, Turkey, Czech Republic and Greece, each with 1 place. With the above 4 designated places, there are a total of 29 teams. They do not need to participate in the qualifying round and directly participate in the Champions League.

At the same time, all the first teams were confirmed. Paris Saint-Germain was automatically shortlisted as the defending champion. The other 8 teams were calculated according to their points ranking, namely Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Dortmund and Barcelona. Arsenal and Leverkusen fell into the second tier, Serie A champion Naples fell into the third tier, and powerhouses such as Bilbao and Newcastle fell into the fourth tier. The

league stage, as well as the knockout match, including draws and other rules, remain generally unchanged, and you can refer to the situation of last season. However, there is a change worth noting from the Champions League rules announced by UEFA, which is about the order of home and away from home of the quarterfinals and semifinals.

According to the description of clause 19.04, in the quarterfinals, the teams that won the top four in the league stage have the order of the two rounds of matches, the teams that won the top two in the league stage have the same matches. At the same time, the "inheritance" rule has been added. If the above-mentioned teams are eliminated early and their teams are eliminated, they will inherit the home and away order of first, away and then home. The rule of

sounds a bit difficult to talk about, but to put it bluntly, it is actually very simple. According to the knockout match chart, all the matches, including the top 16 play-offs, can be determined in advance, and now we know it. There is no need to decide the order of home and away games like last season, like last season, as the quarterfinals and semi-finals.

Specifically, in the top 16, 8 seed teams continued to have the advantage of being away first and then host. In the quarterfinals, the four small divisions where the top four are located were away first and then host. In the semi-finals, the two small divisions where the top two are located were also away first and then host.

Interestingly, the 5th and 6th place in the league stage are perhaps the worst rankings. Whether in the quarterfinals or the semi-finals, they are in the order of home and away first, while the 21st and 22nd place in the league stage are all home and away first, from the playoffs to the semi-finals.

Last season, Barcelona and Arsenal's elimination once triggered a topic worth discussing. The two teams ranked second and third in the league stage respectively, but in the quarterfinals and quarterfinals, according to the draw results, they were all in the order of home and away, which was a bit embarrassing and did not reflect the advantages of league ranking.

In the semi-finals, Arsenal lost to Paris Saint-Germain at home, resulting in a heavy away pressure at the Paris Princes Stadium in the second leg, losing again and out. Barcelona is even more a pity. They draw 3-3 with Inter Milan in both rounds and had to play overtime away. In the end, Vlatesi scored and missed the final.

If Barcelona and Inter Milan are in the home and away order according to the new rules, they should be reversed. Then, Barcelona can play overtime at home and may not necessarily be eliminated. However, since Paris Saint-Germain eliminated Liverpool and "inherited" the No. 1 position, facing Arsenal's advantage of being away first and then home, Arsenal still host first and then away, and the unfavorable situation has not changed.

Of course, it is not an excuse to go first and then home. For example, Arsenal faced Real Madrid in the quarterfinals last season. After winning three goals at home, it was much easier to go to the away game, and all the pressure was given to Real Madrid. No rules will satisfy all parties. Adapting to the rules is more important. The change in the home and away order of the Champions League will be beneficial to the top four teams to a certain extent, and it is still worthy of recognition.

However, for the issue of lottery, it is actually the result of "choose one of two" and there is not much suspense. Many fans think that if the higher-ranked team can be selected from the main choice and directly select one of the two teams, would it be more reasonable? In this way, Liverpool would not meet Paris Saint-Germain early, and the seven consecutive wins in the league stage will become more meaningful.