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Originally Posted by El Capitano Gatisto
Oh yeah, I would prefer it if the competition was restricted to the champions only, myself. The UEFA Cup meant alot more, back then too, which was good. The Cup Winners Cup was always kind of a novelty, though.
The early rounds were, however, full of shit. Glentoran played in it back then. I doubt they could even afford the trip to Milan now if the competition was the same format.
All the teams you mentioned were decent to good, but this is my point. Rangers were only decent to good themselves, so it's all relative. You can't make the point that Rangers were a minute away from getting to a Champions League final and expect that statement to hold the same weight it does now.
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True, it's certainly a LOT harder to win now - I think where you said it's easier for a big team to win it now, what you were trying to say is that it's more likely to be won (and dominated by) the big teams, it's certainly harder to win it for ANYONE now. And I don't think Rangers were ever a minute away from making it since Marseille held the advantage going into the final round of games in their group anyway (at which point Marseille won and Rangers only drew).
As for the early rounds, it depended really. I don't think there was any seeding, so it all depended who was drawn against who. You did get some weak ties in there (yeah, Glentoran for example) but by comparison, it's the same with the F.A. Cup. At the end of the day, it holds true with any knockout tournament that the team who is technically the best can be beat by an underdog on a lucky day, but to an extent, that's half the fun. I don't want to see Real Madrid winning the Champions League every other year, I want to see Steaua Bucharest outplaying Barcelona in the final and then making a mockery of them in the ensuing penalty shoot out.
Speaking of the F.A. Cup and the Cup Winners Cup, am I the only one that wants to see the CWC return? A novelty it may have been, but it always gave some teams a shot at winning a European trophy that never would have otherwise whilst still having to play a couple of big teams along the way to prove their worth. The likes of West Ham, Slovan Bratislava, Dynamo Tblisi, Magdeburg, Mechelen and, good lord, Glasgow Rangers - all respectable enough teams who would have never won the European Cup or, probably, the UEFA Cup. Millwall might actually hit the big time...