It is the world’s most popular sport’s most popular club competition. This season, however — and the past few days, in particular — the UEFA Champions League has been something more than a “main event,” as proclaims its anthem’s lyrics, for showcasing “les meilleures équipes,” the best teams.
Those teams — the ones that expected to progress to the next stage of the competition — are dropping out faster than Claudio Ranieri changes jobs, quicker than Manchester United gets over Jose Mourinho and more spectacularly than Lasse Schöne converting a free-kick from an impossible angle. And there’s another week of round-of-16 second legs to come.