The intersections. The truth scoreboard at 23 pm. The first draw on Friday

We've never seen a Wednesday like this. Eighteen races at the same time at 21pm are a binge of Champions anyway historic. And only a couple of hours later the maxi ranking of the group will be definitively carved: with the first eight teams that will earn the round of 24 directly, the sixteen from ninth to XNUMXth position that will have to play the playoff (will decide the remaining eight teams for the round of 25), and the last twelve, from 36th to XNUMXth, who will say goodbye to the Grande Coppa and will not even have the lifebelt of the Europa League to continue their run.

The formula adopted this season provides that the draw on Friday 31, specific for the playoffs only, acts on blocks of two teams ordered by the merit of the group, rewarding the top seeds (from ninth to 16th) with the return match at home. That is, the ninth and tenth will be able to meet the 24th or 23rd, according to the outcome of the urn (match A); the 11th and 12th will be able to challenge the 22nd or 21st (match B); the 13th and 14th will find the 20th or 19th (match C); finally, the 17th and 18th will challenge the 16th or 15th (match D).

The four duels set by the draw will end up on the left side of the scoreboard which will then be unchangeable, more precisely in the DABC order from the top. The other four games resulting from exclusion (18th/17th vs 16th/15th; 24th/23rd vs tenth/ninth; 22nd/21st vs 12th/11th; 20th/19th vs 14th/13th) will end up on the opposite side of the scoreboard, respectively from the top.

The playoffs will be played on February 11-12 and 18-19. Then, on the 21st, the draw that will decide the matches of the eighth-finals, and the criteria will be exactly the same: the eight seeded teams (those that qualified directly without the playoffs) are divided into blocks of two, so that each of them will only have a double chance of drawing, as for the opponent, and whoever placed better in the maxi group will have less danger of drawing a big team, given the less 'noble' average position of the possible challenger that came out of the playoffs. But, as is known, a big team with renewed hunger in the knockout phase could also appear from the bottom.

See you around 23pm tonight, when the most detached of the rankings will give its answers.

pg