MADRID --I don't know where the European Champion Clubs' Cup slept last night, but I bet she dozed off with a content smile on her face. The old European Cup? Teams won it in sequences of fives, threes and twos.
In fact, a handful of teams won it twice in a row. Ajax and Bayern Munich each won consecutive hat tricks, and when the competition was invented, the trophy almost got a Spanish passport as Real Madrid won it five on the bounce.
Not so the Champions League. Oh, no.
This version of the competition has its critics, often they are either driven by greed (England and Italy's fallen giants) or a frustration that their particular team can't get past the round of 16 (grumpy fans).