Bloated Champions League is like watching Harlem Globetrotters – and not in a good way, writes MATT BARLOW

Meaningfulness should return to European football this week as the rambling and incoherent first phase finally winds to a close.

A grand total of 126 games played already and the Champions League boils down to whether Manchester City can beat Club Bruges at home or whether Paris Saint-Germain might come a cropper in Stuttgart.

There’s a bit more going on in the Europa League but there always is and that’s about where the intrigue ends. Some clubs might have a playoff round they’d rather avoid but all bar 12 of the 36 teams live to fight another day.

It seems like lots more jetting around Europe for no reason to me, although I’m aware there’s a lot of love for it, particularly emanating from the world of TV where giddy pundits, including some of the most influential voices in football, shower us with overenthusiasm.

Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards are high on the new dawn. Gary Lineker is enraptured by the novel concept that it’s nearly February and Celtic are still in it. The normally sensible Ally McCoist is seven match-days deep and woozily confessing to finding the whole thing slightly more attractive than he expected.

This is, lest we forget, a format designed for TV. Those who own TV companies or work for them are bound to find it to their liking. As will those who consume their football by TV.

It has been a struggle for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in Europe but qualification remains in their own hands as they aim to beat Club Bruges at home this week

Barcelona star Raphinha celebrates scoring a 96th-minute as he side beat Benfica 5-4

 Just so long as they can keep across various kick-off times and remember there is a game hidden on Amazon Prime.

More teams, more games, more ‘big clashes’ between global giants showcasing the world’s most famous players. That was the UEFA vision, a consolation to appease those tempted by the Super League breakaway and they will feel it has achieved its aim.

In each competition, there are 36 teams not 32 involved for five months of the year not four, with four lucrative home games not three and 12 teams out at the first exit not 16.

Warm extra layers of comfort and financial insurance, together with a fixture format nobody can quite fathom until clouds part at this stage, provide a carefree air akin to preseason friendlies.

Less peril and more exhibition, the line is a fine one.

There was a hint of Harlem Globetrotters about Barcelona 5 Benfica 4. Even the referee leaning in to protect the darlings of the armchair audience.

Caution has gone with the wind. Draws are down from more than 40 per cent last season to just over 25 per cent in the Champions League and goals are up albeit not by much at 3.22 per game.

Trends not reflected in the Europa League, however, where goals per game are down and draws have nearly doubled.

Aston Villa sit just outside the automatic qualification spots after their defeat by Monaco

The format has been lapped up by the likes of Amazon Prime – anchored here by Gabby Logan

The Champions League, won last year by Real Madrid, always delivers at the knockout stages

True, football should be about goals, and fun and entertainment. Part of me thinks I ought to just relax and whoop it up like the pundit crew. Enjoy the feast and stop lamenting the strange sporting pleasure of a goalless draw ground out in a distant city.

And that would be easier if it weren’t for nagging concern about football’s drift, loosening the ties binding the English pyramid system, clearing out traditions to create space for a bloated mass of corporate event spectaculars with choreographed anthems, soaring ticket prices and no senior concessions.

One more step towards becoming purely a TV sport. Next up, the Club World Cup when FIFA get their version of all this. Good luck to the players trying to stay fit enough for 10 years at the top and to hell with the match-going fans.

Still, at least there’s meaning back this week. We all know the knockout stages will be brilliant. They always are because of the consequence. Elite knock-out cup football with instant jeopardy never fails.

Ange Postecoglou wants bigger squad sizes to help clubs cope with a congested schedule, but Tottenham would help themselves if they just maximised the numbers available. 

They started this season by naming only 23 in the Premier League squad, capped at 25 senior players. Four of these were goalkeepers. 

Among the 19 outfield players, was Max Robson, a 22-year-old utility player who has never been in the first team, Sergio Reguilon, who they have been desperate to sell for two years, and Djed Spence, who Postecoglou did not seem keen on either until he was the last resort.

That’s 16 outfield players who started the season in the manager’s plans, compounded by the fact they have not brough enough through the academy for years. 

Ange Postecoglou (right) has been forced to rely too much on youngsters like Archie Gray

Those from the list of Under-21s, like Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Mikey Moore are gifted players but precious young stars need to be protected and used carefully. After three months in the team, Gray and Bergvall could do with a breather. 

The injury crisis is extreme at Spurs, they have lost key men down the team’s spine, but they knew the risk of going into the season light, made a mistake and have paid a price.