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#2 The perfect advert for Champions League football
In recent seasons, the UEFA Champions League has received significant criticism from supporters and critics worldwide for the mundane, predictable, procession-type football we have become accustomed to watching before Christmas every year.
The top two teams almost always ease through into the knockouts, there are rarely any significant surprises and the "dark horse" teams? Either they've progressed unscathed from a crop of poor group stage or have a world-class gem flourishing in their respective sides!
So you can excuse the hyperbole when I say games like Tottenham vs Bayern on this occasion are precisely what the worldwide audience wants to see. Two top sides, seemingly unafraid of the consequences, relishing a battle which pits them against another good team packed with quality players to test their true ability.
This was fast-paced, frenetic, unpredictable and more besides. There are plenty more adjectives you could use to describe this spectacle, one where despite all the attacking quality on show, their defensive qualities were rather... sloppy and questionable at times.
It's the type of game we expect to see in the later knockout rounds, perhaps a quarter or semi-final, but it was equally a match where anything could happen. With better defending and clinical finishing, Tottenham could have found themselves 3-0 up at half-time. Instead, they were stunned into silence and ultimately succumbed to a record-breaking home defeat.
Exactly the game which makes you wish for more than just 90 minutes, every so often. After all, there's genuinely no guarantee we'll be treated to many more matches like this before Christmas. Matches where we can enjoy Bayern, Tottenham and others being tested by Europe's elite players regularly, rather than the familiar sight of Paderborn and Southampton every other weekend. With ongoing talks over changes to the UCL format, it makes you wonder whether the European Super League concept is so far-fetched after all.
