Reaching the biggest tournament has never mattered more ahead of the mammoth revamp to UEFA's marquee event.
UEFA's master of ceremony – or deputy general secretary to give him his full title – Giorgio Marchetti was in full salesman mode at last week's last ever Champions League group stage draw.
But forget the aristocrats of European football, for one moment, there is multiple reasons why Celtic and Rangers, or if a shock side wins the Scottish Premiership, should be giddy about the looming revamp which is incoming. And it's Celtic – winners of 11 of the last 12 titles – who are already four points ahead of their great rivals this time around. Record Sport crunches the numbers and explains why the Scottish Premiership title this year has mammoth significance attached.
The top eight will breezed straight into the last 16 while teams ranked between ninth and 24th will be set for a battle royale to join them. If our team makes that stage, and no team would fit that criteria since Neil Lennon's rousing Celtic team of 2012/13, would earn a chance to make it 12 matches. Think of it this way, there's potentially a chance the winners of next season's Champions League could play 17 games if they come from the wildcard playoff route.
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