Ally McCoist comments on Liverpool & Tottenham competing in the Champions League

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Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League final last season.

TalkSport pundit Ally McCoist has mocked the fact that both Liverpool and Tottenham reached the ‘Champions League’ final last season despite none of those teams being champions of their respective country.

The former Scotland striker urged the name of the tournament to be changed because it is being contested by more teams that aren’t ‘champions’ of their country, rather than those who are.

McCoist used Liverpool and Tottenham as an example and pointed out that the duo have not been crowned English champions for a combined totalled of 85 years.

Speaking to the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast Show (15/08/2019), McCoist used Liverpool and Tottenham as an example when stating that there is no logic to Europe’s biggest club competition being named the ‘Champions League’.

Should all champions of all European leagues go straight into the group stages: “Possibly, that is something they should look at,” McCoist told TalkSport. “The tournament is effectively wrong by name because they call it the ‘Champions League’ and there are perhaps more teams that don’t win their Championships that are in it now.

“So, effectively the name of the tournament makes a mockery of the tournament – the Champions League, last year, the final was contested by two teams that haven’t won [their league title] in a combined total of 85 years combined. Think about that.

“This is the point I am making. The cup shouldn’t be called the ‘Champions League’. If you are going to continue with it in this format change the name of it.”

Prior to the Champions League re-inviting itself, the European Cup used to be contested by teams that were only champions of their country.

During the ’70s and 80’s, Liverpool were dominant in Europe, with Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa also proving their worth during that period.

Nonetheless, the Champions League final in Madrid was won for a sixth time by Liverpool, who also claimed the European Super Cup, for a fourth time, on Wednesday evening.