The new Champions League format has claimed its first victim in England

The new format of Champions League already claimed its first victim: the League Cup The English had to change the third round draw and prevent the teams participating in Europe from facing each other.

Since there is one more match in the group stage, the football calendar has become tighter and forced the League Cupin importance, the less relevant competition in the country, change its bases so that the European teams have no problems.

The draw for the third round of League Cupheld this Wednesday night at the end of all the second round matches, was held with one exception, the teams participating in Champions League and European Leaguemeans City of Manchester, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester Unitedthey cannot face. This completely violates the rules of the English cups, which established a pure draw from the beginning.

The reason for this change compared to other years is that the third round matches will be held on the weeks of September 16 and 23, which coincide with the group stage matches of Champions and the European League. To avoid compromising these conflicts, the EFLthat runs the competition, decided to divide the teams involved, without them crossing each other, and to schedule them in the week in which they do not play Europe.

In this way, the Liverpool will play against West Ham Unitedhe Manchester Unitedagainst him Barnsleyhe City of Manchesteragainst him WatfordEdithe Tottenham Hotspuragainst him City of Coventryhe Arsenalagainst him Bolton Wanderersand the Aston Villaagainst him Wycombe Wanderers.

This is not the only drawback that the new format Championswhich extended the list of participants to 36 and where the draw for the group stages will be held this Thursday, as the teams participating in Europe They took the opportunity to raise the price of their season tickets, up to 6%, to justify playing an extra match in the group stage.