Not too long ago; Europe's elite football adventure was the prestigious UEFA Champions League. For every professional who played in Europe, as well as their respective clubs; to qualify to play in the UCL was to celebrated as a milestone. To win it was a dream come true for players, coaches and of course, club sides.
The UCL was the spectacle that made Tuesday and Wednesday nights one that all football fans looked forward to with great anticipation. Whether sitting in the stands at the various stadia hosting a UCL match or watching in some ramshackle viewing centre in some obscure African village; the sound of "These Are the Champions" blaring from the PA system at the various venues reinforced the veracity of the long concluded debate that "Football Is the King of Sports"!
As an elite football competition; the fixtures for the matches; right from the group stages were ones that wheted the football lovers' appetite. They were usually matches that truly pitted the best against the very best. Often, those who had come through the grueling playoff stages into the group stages celebrated fixtures that paired them against some of Europe's football powerhouses even if it meant be dumped out at the group stages.
For the players, coaches, and their clubs; to file out in a champion's league fixture against the likes of Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, or Ronaldo de Lima, Zinedine Zidane, or Xavi of the generation before the former, was to live a whole lifetime in 90 minutes or 180 minutes of surrealism as long as the coach picked you to play.
Yes, so "elite" was the champion's league that to play in the lesser regarded UEL was considered a humiliating demotion. Thursday night football was regarded with disdain. A report card of failure for teams who weren't "good enough" to be among Europe's big boys.
It was that bad that very few remembered its theme song. Come to think about it; I still don't!
Well, the line between the two competitions is fast becoming increasingly blurred. For instance; the 2022/2023 European football season has seen some of the teams that would ordinarily have been considered UCL favourites, have now devolved to the UEL competition throwing up some mouthwatering clashes.
While the UCL will see teams like RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt, Napoli, Benfica, and Club Brugge playing in the competition's knockout stage; teams like Barcelona, Manchester United, Juventus and Ajax Amsterdam, all multiple winners of the UCL, will provide equally scintillating match ups that will make you wonder exactly in which of UEFA flagship competitions are Europe's elite football clubs playing this season.
Thursday nights are just about to become the new Wednesday football nights in Europe.
