By Spy Uganda
The new format of the Champions League began on Tuesday with its customary cocktail of goals, last gasp drama and ultimately comfortable wins for Real Madrid, and that action carried onto Wednesday. For 12 teams, however, the wait to get the ball rolling on their European campaign is 24 hours longer than usual with the opening week of fixtures encompassing what to many might seem sacrilegious. Champions League football on a Thursday? But that’s Europa League night!
Well, for one week only the Champions League is spreading out. With leagues Europa and Conference on the back burner for now, the 36 best teams on the continent have been afforded a full European match week to face off with six games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
UEFA labeled this an “exclusive match week,” the Champions League getting its one out of the gates. Next week the Europa League gets its own exclusive week, the competition stretching its legs from beyond the confines of Thursday night and into Wednesday. The Conference League also has a spot all of its own, the sixth and concluding round of games all taking place on Thursday, Dec. 19.
While UEFA will doubtless hope that spreading these opening games across three nights draws eyeballs and excitement for the new league phase, there will be one team who are less than impressed with being afforded a Thursday night fixture. A day after Manchester City host Inter, their title rivals Arsenal will begin their Champions League campaign in Bergamo against Atalanta. That means 24 hours less rest for the Gunners before they travel to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday for a top-of-the-table clash in the Premier League.
They won’t have to worry about another Thursday-Sunday European headache again this season however. From match week two onwards games will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday with the league phase concluding with 18 concurrent games on January 29.
Thursday Champions League fixtures
- Crvena Zvezda vs. Benfica, 12:45 p.m. ET
- Feyenoord vs. Bayer Leverkusen, 12:45 p.m. ET
- Atalanta vs. Arsenal, 3 p.m. ET
- Atletico Madrid vs. Leipzig, 3 p.m. ET
- Monaco vs. Barcelona, 3 p.m. ET
- Brest vs. Sturm Graz, 3 p.m. ET
