Does the Champions League's Single-Leg Format Have Staying Power?

The last two weeks, in Lisbon and a slice of western Germany, were fun. There was that sense of immersion you usually only get at a World Cup or continental finals, the bubble effect of the summer tournament becoming a bubble in a very different sense: protection against COVID-19.

There was that tournament sense of momentum and narratives colliding, of football history distilled and speeded up. The superclubs care far more about the Champions League than about domestic leagues and this was pure Champions League, with no other competitions to dilute developing themes. So in the space of two weeks, we saw Bayern beat Paris Saint-Germain in the final, the shambles of Barcelona exposed (again),…