There are really two UEFA Champions League seasons – fall and spring. Or rather, there are three, since the summertime qualifying rounds comprise two full months and five rounds of eliminations.
But it’s the chasm between the mid-September to mid-December group stage and the knockout stages, beginning in mid-February, that’s particularly stark. A soccer season is long, and during that two-month layoff from continental competition, while domestic seasons mostly carry on, a team’s outlook can change entirely.
The first stage of the European season, then, is almost entirely inconsequential to who will ultimately lift the trophy, or even reach the latter stages, at other end of the year.