Manchester City Star Ilkay Gundogan Drops Passionate Rant Against New Champions League Format

Ilkay Gundogan has issued a desperate plea for UEFA to reconsider its revamped Champions League format after the European Super League collapse.

UEFA's plans for the new Champions League will come in effect from 2024, which will see an increase from 32 teams to 36.

Champions League teams will no longer be required to play three opponents twice in home and away fixtures.

According to UEFA, teams will play matches against 10 different sides as half of them will be at home and the other half will be away.

Gundogan took to social media to voice his opposition towards the Champions League changes as he criticised the extra matches and the burden it would place on players.

The 30-year-old Manchester City midfielder insisted that the Champions League reforms were the "lesser of the two evils in comparison to the Super League."

Speaking on Twitter, Gundogan tweeted to his 1.1m followers: "With all the Super League stuff going on... can we please also speak about the new Champions League format?

"More and more and more games, is no one thinking about us players? The new UCL format is just the lesser of the two evils in comparison to the Super League...

"The UCL format right now works great and that is why it's the most popular club competition in the world - for us players and for the fans."

Gundogan's message to UEFA resonated with many fans and received a positive reception on Twitter, with Manchester United legend Gary Neville retweeting his statement.

City came under intense criticism in recent days after signing up for the European Super League alongside United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea.

However, the Premier League club have withdrawn their support from the association, despite Real Madrid president Florentino Perez saying that clubs "signed a binding contract."

City boss Pep Guardiola even expressed his dissatisfaction towards The Super League as he argued that sport is "not a sport when the relation between the effort and reward don't exist."

Topics: Manchester City, Football, Ilkay Gundogan, UEFA, Premier League, England, Champions League

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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