UEFA Semi-Finals: Sport not Spectacle

In theory, I don’t like to directly compare the UEFA Cup to the Champions League. The myriad G-14 friendly format changes over the years have ensured that in terms of money spinning big names versus big names matches, the Champions League is in no danger of ever being overshadowed by its less glamorous brother, and yet year after year, the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup (before the introduction of group stages, this could be applied to the whole tournament) continuously provide engaging, unpredictable and high quality matches.

Given that this is, officially, the last UEFA Cup, it’s only fitting that the semi-finals should so spectacularly upstage the Champions League. Both match ups were between evenly matched domestic rivals, there was none of the fear that so often leads to destructive anti-football. It also, obviously, helped that all four teams involved tend towards attacking play to begin with. Even though the first leg of Dynamo-Shakhtar never really got going, it would be accurate to describe the semi finals, as a whole, as positive and attacking. Yes, this is in direct contrast to the tense, predictable and often turgid soccer, not to mention the ad nauseum arguments about which league is the champion of the universe, that occurs when the behemoths of Europe are shoving their way to the front of the feeding trough.

Like most people, I enjoyed a hearty laugh at Chelsea’s expense, but the ludicrous ruckus that gave way to preposterous conspiracy theories were enjoyable in a pro wrestling way; we got to see the despicable villain throw a pantomime tantrum after being hoisted on his own petard. This was just as well, because the assembled talent on display, over the course of both legs, produced two truly awful games.

Had matches of the UEFA Cup semi-finals quality taken place in the Champions League or the Premier League we would probably still be hearing every second praised and every detail dissected. As it were, the UEFA Cup takes place outside of the officially designated glamour zone; acknowledging it has to include the qualifiers that it’s a second tier, devalued competition. It’s true that the most tangible reward that the winners have to be satisfied with is the glory of winning. Of course, if determining a sporting champion was still the primary purpose of having these tournaments, European competition might not have been unrecognizably altered in the first place.

Category: UEFA Cup

Tags: UEFA Cup

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