The banner stretched across the foot of the vast Yellow Wall. “You don’t care about the sport – all you care about is money,” it read and if, as a general statement, it rang sadly true, the pictures of Gianni Infantino, Andrea Agnelli and Nasser Al-Khelaifi, as well as a second message, demonstrated the essence of the Sudtribune’s immediate grievance. “Nein zur CL reform” may require little translating: no to Champions League reform.
It may be too late, as German opposition to the so-called Swiss model came after a decision was rammed through without consulting Borussia Dortmund’s huge support. But if there was a weary feel that the Champions League group stages had lost their lustre, no one told Dortmund. It seems too late to save the present structure, to preserve the four-team pool with the wonderful simplicity that everyone plays each other home and away and the top two go through.
