Jamie Carragher has claimed that Villarreal’s stunning result to reach the Champions League semi final proves the European Super League was always “bulls***”.
The Yellow Submarine sensationally booked their place in the last four at the expense of the mighty Bayern Munich, drawing 1-1 at The Allianz Arena to progress 2-1 on aggregate.
Taking a slender one-goal lead to Germany, Bayern levelled the tie through Robert Lewandowski shortly after half time. But with just two minutes of normal time remaining Samuel Chukwueze scored a stunning equaliser to break the hosts’ hearts, sparking wild scenes of celebration on the away bench.
It’s the first time Villarreal have reached this stage since 2006, when Robert Pires and Co. were knocked out by Arsenal and they now look destined to face-off against Premier League opponents again, with Liverpool their likely opponents. The Reds hold a 3-1 win lead over Benfica after the first leg in Lisbon and are the overwhelming favourites to reach the last four.
And the result was another bitter blow to the likes of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and Juventus chief Andrea Agnelli, who would prefer Europe’s biggest competition to be a closed shop. The year anniversary of the doomed ESL proposals have recently passed with the anger and fury over the attempt to breakaway from UEFA still raging.
Of the 12 founding members of the doomed proposals, this season has already seen Barcelona dumped out of Europe’s top competition at the expense of Benfica, AC Milan finishing bottom of their group, while Juventus were also dumped out of the Champions League by Juventus.
And while Bayern Munich were not one of the clubs proposed to enter the tournament, the fact they can be overcome by relative minnows proves the worth of fair and open competition.
“What a result for Villarreal & another reason to show why the Super League was bulls***,” Carragher wrote on social media moments after Villarreal’s decisive strike. Despite the ESL proposals falling flat on their face, Champions League reform proposals put forward by UEFA have been labelled as a ‘Super League via the back door’.
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Europe’s governing body is expected to finalise a new format for the continent’s biggest tournament, due to kick in from the start of the 2-24/25 season. The changes would allow teams to qualify for an expanded Champions League based on historical European performance rather than domestic league placing.
The Football Supporters' Association's Premier League Network says the proposals simply project the biggest clubs and echo the Super League proposals which caused such huge outrage last year.
"We are united in opposition to proposals to reform the Champions League that are a backdoor attempt at a return to the discredited idea of a European Super League," a Network statement read.
"Last year, it was our supporter groups that united to force the collapse of the European Super League. At the time, UEFA told us that fans were the heart of the game and promised fans' views would be centre stage in deciding what came next."
