It was amid one of those most disastrous economic crises ever registered. Father’s salary – and he was working as the local radio’s director at that moment – wasn’t enough to buy a chocolate bar.To make things worse, there were not many of them in the stores, too, so we were free of temptation in some highly ironic way.But you could not hide TV from us, so we would stare at that box and see kids in movies, TV shows and commercials from some happier and wealthier parts of the globe enjoying all sorts of chocolates: those milky ones, with lots of cocoa, mixed with various fruits and flavours, with bits of coconuts or without them, etc.Who wants it more – Al Khelaifi or Perez? PSG or Los Blancos? The ‘Cold War’ of European footballWe used to dream about the moment all those candies would be accessible for us. And sooner or a bit later, a few years later, to be precise, it became a reality. The crisis was gone – or at least that’s what they told us through that same TV – and the shops were packed with dozens of chocolates from all over the world. Our eyes would gaze down the shelves, and despite not being able to buy all that stuff at once, we were able to pick one a day or similar and enjoy those until then long-distant tastes of sweet.And it was magical that first day. And the second. And that whole week, maybe even for an entire month.Before it started to fade. Yes, chocolates were still there, being more and more expensive though, and we enjoyed eating them seldom, but the magic was somehow vanishing until it was gone entirely. At some point, it became the opposite of what it represented for us in the beginning – the joy was gone. We were only addicted to its sweetness, but we didn’t like it anymore.Okay, man, but what on earth it has to do with the Champions League, you might ask by now.Basically, everything.Mozzart Bet offers World’s biggest odds on PSG and Sheffield UnitedOnly ten or 15 years ago, Champions League was also the world’s most formidable club football competition, just like now, but one thing was very different. There were not many games and live TV coverages of every match on your telly.You were offered one fixture a night and maybe some short highlights of the others in the aftermath of that tie. And that was it. And we would feel that sweet taste of happiness once the UCL anthem would start and that ‘chocolate bar’ would shine with all of its mesmerizing charms.Uhh, if we could only have more of it, more, more… voices inside us were heard. And it was the most human thing – to feel desire for something you like and even adore. So we were given that opportunity.You still don’t get it?Ok, tonight it’s PSG – Real Madrid and Sporting Lisbon – Manchester City on the menu. And tomorrow: Salzburg – Bayern Munich, Inter – Liverpool. And next week: Chelsea – Lille, Villareal – Juventus, Benfica – Ajax, and Atletico Madrid – Man Utd.But that’s not enough because that very same United are on tonight’s menu as they face Brighton in the English Premier League tie scheduled for the same time as the mentioned UCL games.And then there’s Thursday with tons of UEFA Europa League knockout games (Barcelona vs Napoli, for instance) and UEFA Europa Conference League, too.Huh, at least there’s Friday to take some rest from these days packed with football beyond limits? Actually not, because there are at least one Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and La Liga tie to kickstart the weekend.And there was that FIFA Club World Cup a few days ago. And the good old English FA Cup, and – if the amount of action does not suffocate you – some more domestic football, maybe not on the level in terms of football quality but with lots of excitement.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Basically, there’s football seven days a week, almost 365 days a year (thank God, the climate still doesn’t allow playing every single day because football authorities seem to have no issues with overtired players). And where will this ‘overdose’ take us? Well, it already brought some of us – who were breading football not long ago – to the state of mind when we sincerely fire straight from the heart…”Oh, no, please, not another Champions League matchday”.Watch out, it would be such a shame to see our love for that ‘chocolate’ diminishes entirely.
