The Nations League has not only breathed much-needed new life into international football, it has also eclipsed the increasingly tedious group stage of the Champions League
The time has come! Oh, new day! The Nations League. They laughed when Uefa announced it had commissioned an operatic anthem for its complex new international friendly fudge; a piece of music that would “symbolise the unity of a very serious competition”, despite sounding like the incidental music from a terrifying 1970s horror film where a seven-year-old Michel Platini sets his demonic Rottweilers on you.
They laughed when Uefa unveiled its shiny new Nations League trophy, there to represent “the pinnacle of a nation”, while also resembling a badly rolled joint made out of kitchen foil. They probably laughed too when Gareth Southgate said the Nations League was a good idea and that England would take it extremely seriously because it was “really important”.
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