It seems like the European Super League rancour have cast a spell on the clubs who floated the project this week.
The likes of Real Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool have all dropped points over the past week. Somehow though, Barcelona have avoided the curse as they beat Getafe 5-2 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid dropped 2 points following a 1-1 draw against Getafe on Sunday.
Other results from ex-Super League clubs over the week draws a scary pattern.
Atalanta 1-0 Juventus
Spezia 1-1 Inter Milan
Arsenal 1-1 Fulham
Leeds 1-1 Liverpool
Arsenal 0-1 Everton
Liverpool 1-1 Newcastle
Some ex-Super League clubs will get a chance to correct the narrative as the weekend progresses. Real Madrid and Chelsea are in action later on Saturday.
Only Barcelona and Real Madrid remain in the Super League conglomerate with teams from England, Italy and Spain ditching the idea and even calling it 'a mistake.'
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Joan Laporta's involvement was 'crucial' to Super League suspension: NY Times
Joan Laporta's interaction with Javier Tebas was 'crucial' to the European Super League suspension, according to The New York Times.
As per the source, the Barcelona president warned the La Liga president of the imminent launch of the ESL on Thursday, April 15, three days before the official announcement.
At that time, six clubs had already signed up for the breakaway tournament while the other six were weighing on their involvement.
Tebas, for his part, went on to warn Aleksander Ceferin of the news - something that had helped the UEFA president to take measures against the ESL creation.
Laporta, however, remains convinced that the Super League is 'absolutely necessary' but it'll be the club's socios who decide whether to participate in the proposed competition.
Florentino Perez proposes new idea after Super League collapse as 'football bores youth' – and it baffles fans
"[The European Super League] is not a plan which excludes club and nor is it designed to go against other leagues. The Super League project is the best possible solution, and it has been created to help football get out of the crisis," Real Madrid president and European Super League chairman Florentino Perez has told Diario AS.
"Football is severely damaged because its economy has been ruined and it has to adapt to the new era we are living in. The Super League does not go against domestic competitions and its objective is to ensure that more money is available for all sections of football.
"The concept is to generate more interest for the games. Nor do I think that the changes which UEFA have made are a real solution to the problem because what has been proposed isn't even an improvement on the current model.
"Also, we cannot wait until 2024. But in any case, we must have done something badly. We are going to try to turn this around and develop more ideas.
"Maybe the solution is for the top four teams in every league to play. I don't know, but something needs to be done because today's youth, those between 14 and 24 years of age, are abandoning football because they see it as being boring compared to the other forms of entertainment which they prefer.
"There are four thousand million football fans all over the world and half of them are fans of the clubs in the Super League. Football is the only global sport.
"The reality is that if there are more interesting and competitive matches, more money will go into football. And that will be for everyone, not just for a few, because the national leagues will be worth much more. And we are also very committed to the idea, which is a very important pillar of the project."
However, most fans on Reddit didn't quite understand how Perez's ESL would differ from the Champions League.
Caspy36: "This format sounds strangely familiar."
KunuBro: "So the Champions League?"
xyzzy321: "Just rename the CL to SL and Florentino will be happy."
alx69: "Great idea, then add some champions of the smaller league run a qualification round reducing the field to 32 teams, split them into 8 groups of 4 and have 16 advance to a two-legged knockout round."
DFTBEdward: "Way to reinvent the wheel, ya kn*b."
While most of the 12 original founding members of the European Super League have left the project, Barcelona still remain involved. However, the final decision will be made by the assembly of club members thanks to a clause Joan Laporta introduced into the founding document.
