Real Madrid lost at Liverpool on Wednesday, and in an earlier era that might have been the case. Three Champions League defeats in five attempts were once crippling. Defeats against Lille and AC Milan would have jeopardized any European championship. A third goal, 2-0 at Anfield, might have ended the game.

However, Real Madrid is very much alive in the 2024-25 competition precisely because of the new Champions League format that its president detests.

“(The) new model will have more games and less interest. It’s an absurd competition,” Florentino Pérez said last November.

That’s the only reason his club is still a title contender.

Los Blancos stumbled again on Wednesday, on a boozy evening in northwest England. At the start of the second half they gave in to pressure from Liverpool. Their only shot on goal before stoppage time was their best chance to equalize – a penalty that Kylian Mbappé failed to convert.

Her obvious excuse is injuries. They have been weakened by a growing list of absentees, which now includes Aurélien Tchouaméni, Rodrygo, three key defenders and Vinícius Júnior. But the remaining stars were dark. Mbappé was terrible on Wednesday. On the first few days of the game, the entire team seemed disjointed, disinterested, or both.

And the results were dismal. They needed late rallies to beat Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund. They failed in France and then at home against a struggling AC Milan.

Such a start to the Champions League would have jeopardized entry into the knockout rounds for decades. The old format – 32 teams, eight groups of four, the top two in each group – was outdated but relatively unforgiving. It allowed some leeway; And as inequality grew in European football, the giants rarely fell. But when they failed repeatedly, as Manchester United did in 2020 and 2023, they perished.

However, under pressure from super clubs like Real Madrid, UEFA expanded and revised the format. Now there is a “league phase” from which 24 (out of 36) teams advance. After five rounds and three rounds remaining, Real are in 24th place with six points, right in the bubble of 24.

In other words, the Galacticos, the previous season’s favorites underperformed; but from today’s perspective they would still advance to the first knockout round. Regardless of their opponent, they would still be favorites to win and advance to the round of 16, as they have done for 27 consecutive seasons.

And their savior would be the new Champions League structure, which Pérez considers “absurd”.

He says this because he is the leading proponent of a European Super League. He was the architect of the project that failed in 2021. He was the strongest force behind attempts to revive the Super League last December. “The Super League is more necessary than ever,” he said last year.

That’s why he hated the compromise, the new UEFA Champions League format, which led to more giant-versus-giant encounters in the league phase but diluted the competition.

Last Sunday he repeated his criticism. “The new Champions League format has not proven to be a solution as expected,” Pérez said in a long speech at Real Madrid’s annual general meeting. “It has increased the number of games but reduced the value of each game. “The competition will only arouse the passion of fans at the end and not at the beginning as expected.”

And then, three days later, his struggling team roused the passions of fans with another defeat.

Real Madrid were so bad that their league games suddenly became really meaningful.

Next up is a trip to Atalanta on matchday 6 (December 10th). A defeat there, in Bergamo, Italy, would mean the end Los Blancos look at the knockouts from the outside.

But even then, wins in the last two games – against Salzburg and Brest – would almost certainly be enough.

Pérez is right in many ways – the new format has devalued these early round games by making losses relatively insignificant. It’s far too merciful.

And the most ironic twist of all is that his club, the defending champions, the kings of Europe, Real Madrid, will likely benefit.