So, this is the new-look Champions League.
A bit like the old-look Champions League, just with more matches so, inevitably, more Champions League highlights and more Sbotop Champions League betting odds to get excited about.
I have to say though, that is far from ideal in one sense.
The quality won’t improve, if anything there will be more fatigued players come the end of the campaign.
The words of Rodri were well-timed, presumably deliberately, when he said – on the day the first group stage matches in the new format were being played – that players are close to going on strike.
The Spain and Manchester City midfielder believes top footballers overworked as the schedule increases.
Rodri made 63 appearances for club and country last season, when he won Euro 2024 with Spain, and 68 in the 2022-23 season but feels the optimum number of games to play would be between 40 and 50.
While his words ring true, perhaps this is a risk UEFA is willing to take, little over three years after a number of major European clubs backed moves for a European Super League to be formed.
Perhaps this is a form of compromise – a mini European Super League by stealth.
Certainly, the eight match format increases the chances of the super powers qualifying for the knockout stages which is what many backers of the Super League wanted, as opposed to the inconvenience of meeting the smaller fry.
In theory, the giants could lose three times now and still make it – something which was very rare in the six match format.
Alas, the governing’s body’s claim that it will “improve competitive balance and sporting interest and in the process increase the number of meaningful matches – matches with something at stake for both sides – throughout the competition” can be dismissed on a number of levels.
Anyway, it is the format that has been chosen/foisted upon clubs and the opening night didn’t even provide a solitary surprise as the big beasts flexed their muscles.
None more so than Bayern Munich who put nine past the minnows of Dinamo Zagreb, spearheaded by a hat-trick of penalties from England captain Harry Kane who notched four on the night.
Dinamo were simply overwhelmed against the Bavarians, who have won their last 21 opening Champions League games dating back to 2002 and set some records on the way.
Kane now has 33 Champions League goals, surpassing the record of 30 set by Wayne Rooney for most tournament goals by an English player.
Meanwhile, Thomas Müller has now made 152 Champions League appearances (all for Bayern). That means the 35 year-old has set a new competition record for most games for one club, overtaking Barcelona legend Xavi.
In Milan, the contest between two former winners threatened to cause a surprise when the Rossoneri made a dream start as Christian Pulisic combined with new boy Alvaro Morata to sprint down the right and place an angled drive beyond Alisson.
Yet that was as good as it got for the hosts and the Merseysiders, wearing black armbands after one of their fans was killed in a car accident in Bergamo as he travelled to the game, took control.
Centre backs Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk put them in the ascendancy by the break before midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai bundled home a third midway through the second half to make the game safe.
It was a contest which evoked memories of past glories and also underlined the financial gulf between the English Premier League and Serie A.
A word too for England’s other representative on opening night, Aston Villa, playing at the top table of European football, for the first time in 41 years.
They turned on the style to win 3-0 at Swiss champions Young Boys as Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana grabbed the goals.
It was a moment they could only have dreamed of less than two years ago when Steven Gerrard was in charge and they were closer to the Championship than the Champions League.
We will finish with Europe’s top dogs, the record 15-times champions of Europe who eased into action with a routine home victory over spirited Stuttgart.
Los Blancos are blessed with an array of attacking talent and the addition of Kylian Mbappe to the forward group of Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior, Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham is quite frightening.
But there’s plenty of talent in other area and one of their key attributes, character, was very much to the fore again as they scored twice in the last seven minutes to run out 3-1 winners in the Bernabeu.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men needed an 83rd minute header from Antonio Rudiger to retake the lead before young Brazilian talent Endrick wrapped up the points with the last kick of the game.
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