The first season of the revamped Champions League format reached a dramatic end after a new winner was crowned in Munich, Germany, on May 31.

Paris Saint-Germain won their maiden title in style by beating Inter Milan 5-0 to record the biggest win margin ever seen in a Champions League final.

Goals from Desire Doue (2), Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Senny Mayulu ensured that the expected Italian Job didn't take place as Inter Milan lost the second European final in three years.

UEFA will consider the new format a success after doing away with the group stage phase and introducing the league phase system.

In the old system, a team would face three teams in a round-robin format, with the top two teams in every group advancing to the Round of 16, while the third-placed teams would be relegated to the Europa League. Number four would be eliminated from Europe altogether.

The new system discarded the round robin format and instead, one team now faces eight different opponents in the league system. At the end of the league phase, the top eight teams advance directly to the Round of 16, while positions 9 to 24 compete in a double-legged play-off with the winner qualifying for the next round.

The teams which finished in positions 9 to 16 have the advantage of playing the second leg at home.

Arsenal's complaints stemmed from the fact that they had to play the second leg of each of their knockout round away from home, despite finishing third in the league phase. The Gunners won six, drew one and lost one to finish behind Barcelona and Liverpool.

They played PSV Eindhoven in the Round of 16 and the new system has it such that the teams that finished in the top eight play the second leg at home.

However, that advantage is wiped out after the Round of 16, and the draw becomes random. Arsenal were forced to play both second-leg matchups of their quarter-final and semi-final games away from home.

This was a little bit unfair, given that Real Madrid finished 11th and PSG finished 15th. Playing the second leg at home always has its advantages, as one can rely on the home support to get over the line.

Arsenal managed to beat Real Madrid at the Bernabeu but failed to beat PSG at the Parc des Princes and were eventually eliminated.

UEFA has now reportedly agreed to reward the consistency of teams in the league phase, and therefore, from next season, teams that finish higher will be given preferential treatment (second leg at home) in the knockout rounds.

Other changes considered include the scrapping of extra-time and advancing directly to penalty shootouts and preventing teams from the same country from facing each other until the latter stages of the competition. The last two changes are yet to be agreed on, as reported by the Mirror.

Source: TUKO.co.ke