Source: SKY_Sports
Fergie defends Champions League
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has defended the current format of the UEFA Champions League.
The competition has come in for criticism recently with people suggesting that the tournament has become too predictable with the same teams from England, Spain, Italy and Germany dominating year after year.
Uefa president Michel Platini has attempted to breathe new life into the competition by widening up the Champions League to more countries.
However some even believe that move has degraded the competition with the minnows bringing the level of competitiveness down drastically.
Others believe the seeding of teams should be scrapped altogether to enable more exciting group fixtures and guard against ensuring the bigger teams always reach the last-16.
"I do not agree the preliminaries are meaningless and simply a money-making exercise," Ferguson told United Review.
"People are arguing that the big clubs always come through and that the seeded fixtures are a waste of time.
"Obviously the group games are not as dramatic as the knockout final stage, but the critics are missing the point.
"The group system is a league. All the sports competitions have a starting point that includes the minnows, from the FA Cup to Wimbledon in tennis, or The Open in golf.
"You can't start with the FA Cup final or Wimbledon final and cut out the competitive build-up.
"When you put it like that, it is nonsense of course. But that has not prevented a spate of recent criticism and accusations of the game exploiting the fans.
"The better teams invariably come out on top in the end but not before some heart-stopping moments and I am sure the smaller clubs welcome the chance of going for glory, even if the odds are stacked against them."
