It’s possible to find joy on the sidelines as football continues to devour itself

Like the Dublin buses, we have been waiting for an Irish striker in the Champions League for ages, 13 years to be exact, and on the same evening two strikers arrived.

Contribution Liam Scales and Adam Idah Celtic’s impressive demolition of Slovan Bratislava was one of the few remaining memories from the first week of UEFA’s Brave New World tournament – spread out over three nights to squeeze every inch of it into it.

New Champions League The format may be good for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic’s European dreams, but there’s nothing else positive to be taken from the concept. For those of us who got through all three evenings, even moments of brilliance, such as David Raya’s two saves in Bergamo, couldn’t disguise the fact that we were watching a game slowly eating itself. And it wasn’t any fun.

Many of us felt there was too much football even before the bright sparks at UEFA headquarters in Nyon decided on this new, bloated ‘Swiss model’ Champions League system. Even the players themselves are saying enough is enough. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Rodri, the world’s best defensive midfielder and one of the favourites for the Ballon d’Or, was the first to raise the issue of players going on strike.

“There will be a moment when we have no choice, but lo and behold, it is something that worries us because we are the ones who suffer,” said the man who anchored the midfield in 63 games for Manchester City and Spain last season. But more than that, there will be a moment when the general public also suffers because they have to watch most of the match.

While there was still a sense of occasion at Celtic Park on Wednesday, it’s hard not to feel that UEFA has diluted the special feeling around European nights. It’s easier to qualify for the knockout stages than the All-Ireland football championship, where teams play three group games to knock one team out. That’s great for teams like Celtic because it gives them a path to the knockout stages, but it only means the strongest are less likely to be caught out. All UEFA have done is ensure that the big trophy is in the hands of Real Madrid or City for the foreseeable future.

Sure, things were better when I was younger. Maybe it’s because they’re memories viewed through the prism of childhood, but I still remember most of AC Milan’s European Cup final win over Steaua Bucharest in 1989, with two goals each from Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit, and it’s a far brighter memory than this summer’s Champions League final – which Real, incidentally, beat 2-0 in Dortmund – or last year’s clash between City and Inter Milan.

But the thing is, when we saw the Milan team play football perfectly, it was great, which was rare. We couldn’t watch much football on TV. And that made names like Van Basten and Gullit even more exciting and exotic.

In the middle of the new Champions League week, we are reminded of how much better the game was when we were kids with the sad news of the passing of Toto Schillaci. There will never again be another World Cup star like the Italian forward who came out of nowhere and captivated a nation with his wild celebrations for each of the six goals he scored in that tournament – ​​including, of course, the goal that knocked Ireland out of Italy ’90.

Schillaci became something of a folk hero in this country, even appearing in a Smithwick commercial, but he always downplayed his own talent. But in the summer of 1990, luck smiled on him and he became the defining figure of the World Cup and, for a brief moment, one of the most famous footballers in the world.

He wasn’t even included in the tournament, only being forced into the picture by a good performance in a friendly against Switzerland. Italia ’90 is fondly remembered in this country and in Italy, but the tournament itself was so dismal that it led to rule changes that improved the game, including the back pass rule.

But that’s not what we, who adored Schillaci as children, remember. We remember the atmosphere, the party at Walkinstown Junction, Gazza’s tears, Roger Milla’s dancing. Italia ’90 told us that football could be a mood, a feeling. It showed us how the world game could unite everyone. And that anything was possible.

We will never get that feeling back, and UEFA’s ‘revival’ of the Champions League format makes nostalgia for the good old days even stronger. Granted, the old format has lasted 30 years and is probably getting stale – it’s been a long time since Manchester United’s remarkable 1999 season or Liverpool’s return to Istanbul.

But the competition has been altered to feed the greed and need of Europe’s strongest clubs. Watching Bayern Munich score nine goals against Dinamo Zagreb, there is no other conclusion to be drawn.

This format is UEFA’s response to the top clubs’ clumsy attempt to create a European Super League. So, they’ve basically tried to prevent the threat of a European Super League by creating a European Super League. The new model allows the rich to get even richer, while the middle-tier (like Celtic) can dream of a few knockout matches.

Even allowing for goals from Scales and Idah, it was hard not to feel last week that we were watching the latest instalment of the world’s most popular sport’s self-destruction. From the new club World Cup to the 48-team World Cup, from Man City’s 115 charges to FIFA’s shameless courtship of Saudi Arabia, there’s not much to like about football right now.

But maybe others will benefit from it too. On Friday night we watched an entertaining clash at the Brandywell, complete with a controversial penalty and a furious Stephen Bradley calling Damien McGrath ‘the worst referee in the league’. It was a game and a night that proved the potential in our own league.

If the powers that be at FIFA and UEFA continue to find new and creative ways to destroy their own leagues, perhaps more people will become interested in the League of Ireland.