"It was the excitement of this final day that Bayern Munich president, Herbert Hainer, spoke about in an interview with Tz. Ahead of the first UCL matchday of the 2025/26 season, Hainer was asked about the UCL season and the new format: "I'm very much looking forward to it, also because the new format is very exciting. Just remember the last matchday of the group stage [last season], how the table went up and down," Hainer explained, as captured by @iMiaSanMia."
""Thanks to this reform, we're already seeing more games between Europe's top teams in the league phase than before, Last season, for example, we had to face the eventual Champions League winners PSG early on - we were the only team to beat PSG in the competition at the time." That last sentence is unfortunately not true, with Arsenal FC and Atlético Madrid overcoming the Qatari giants before the Bavarians did so, too."
The 2024/25 Champions League replaced four-team groups with a single large league table in which each qualified team played eight matches. Simultaneous final matchday fixtures produced dramatic live-table swings and increased end-of-group excitement. Bayern Munich president Herbert Hainer praised the reform for creating more games between Europe’s top teams and cited Bayern’s early win over PSG, a claim later corrected because Arsenal and Atlético beat PSG earlier. Bayern did claim the season’s first victory over the Club World Cup champions when facing Chelsea. Bayern dominated Hamburger SV and now faces a rugged schedule including a key Champions League match against Chelsea.
Read at Bavarian Football Works
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