Arsene Wenger believes the UEFA Champions League would be weakened
by the inclusion of cup winners and more teams from lower-ranked
nations.
This season's group stage has already seen Arsenal beat Slavia
Prague 7-0
and Liverpool thrash Turkish champions Besiktas 8-0.
However, only 15 of UEFA's 53 member nations are still represented
in the Champions League and Michel Platini wants to make the
competition more accessible across Europe.
Wenger fears Platini's proposals would undermine the Champions
League further and he also harbours concerns about the status of
the Uefa Cup, after watching Bayern Munich withdraw Franck Ribery
after just an hour of Thursday's 2-2 draw with Bolton.
He said: "You have to be careful not to change the Champions League
too much by bringing in even more weaker teams, because you could
find yourself with games five and six with no meaning.
"That would be very dangerous for the quality of the
competition.
"The Uefa Cup has a different problem. The mistake there is that,
with groups
of five, the best three teams qualify (for the knockout
phase).
'"That means with four points you can go through. That is not
serious.
'"Last night in the Uefa Cup Bayern Munich took Ribery off after 60
minutes,
Bastian Schweinsteiger after 70 minutes to prepare for the game on
Saturday. That means it becomes a friendly game."
