Sure, but we already had that happen before in 2013 — with much stronger Bayern and Dortmund teams — coincidentally enough in Wembley, where this year's final also will be played!
There's some big coincidences here about the 2013 and this year's semifinal:
During the Road to Wembley 2013, Borussia Dortmund were in the Group of Death with Real Madrid and Manchester City, but they somehow topped the group unbeaten. In the semi, they were facing Real Madrid again and prevailed, with Robert Lewandowski scoring 4 at the home leg.
This year, Borussia Dortmund also topped the Group of Death with Paris Saint Germain, AC Milan, and Newcastle United, then played against Paris Saint Germain again in the semi, just like the group stage encounter. They also had a favourable draw in Round of 16 and quarterfinal (Shakhtar Donetsk-Malaga in 2013, and PSV Eindhoven-Atletico Madrid this year).
Bayern Munich also knocked Arsenal out in the Round of 16 that year, which was then repeated again in the quarterfinal this year.
The only differences is obviously Paris Saint Germain because they knocked Barcelona out this time, unlike 11 years ago.
Looks like BL or Serie A will grab a 5th team in next years CL due to all PL sides (except Villa) got knockled out.
Though this will mean that smaller leagues will most likely never make it to the CL again with the new system.
Im traditional, id like to have it the way it was intended, winners compete against other winners, not 4-5th seed teams.
Fuck uefa
This could be a bad news for the Spurs fans, who were aiming for the Champions League football the next season. They had to play some big games against Arsenal, City, and Liverpool in order to keep the qualification hopes alive.
Overall, this week seems to be the embarrassing one for the English Football, along with the controversial format changes for the FA Cup the next season, where replays for every main rounds were completely abolished that could only increase the potential surprises for lower league teams.
Traditionally the host nation does well in the tournament. The bookies I’ve looked at have Germany 3rd favourite to win it. Generally Germany are in the mix whatever tournament they are in. I think that’s where the smart money goes if you’re making a bet. Of course France and England are expected to win the tournament and for once in my lifetime I actually feel England have a real shot this time and not just hype from our media.
Yeah, and you know that when the host nations played in the European Championship Final, they had always been the "unlucky" sides:
1.Portugal lost to Greece in 2004.
2.France lost to Portugal in 2016.
3.England lost to Italy in 2020 (this one was held in 11 different European countries, with England and Italy being the two co-hosts, but the Final itself was held at Wembley, which is home to England team).
But seriously, Germany had the opportunity to shine after some kind of disappointments. Look at the 2006 World Cup. Even though they didn't win at all, a 3rd place finish is still a great achievement, considering their disappointing results during the warm-up (they were even sat 22nd in FIFA Rankings by March 2006, which was their worst finish for Germany in the modern era of football).
