FANS have slammed the Champions League draw as “rigged” after AI was used to reveal the fixtures.
The premier European tournament drew the fixtures for the new league phase, which threw up some exciting ties.
Arsenal have avoided a horror fixture list, with their toughest fixtures coming against Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain.
However, Liverpool have a much harder run with clashes against Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, AC Milan and a host of the toughest teams among different pots.
However, fans were not impressed with the new system that decided the fixtures – which involved Gianluigi Buffon drawing team’s names out of a hand and a bored Cristiano Ronaldo pressing a magic button to decide who they’ll play.
Many flocked to social media to claim that it was rigged.
One posted: “This Champions League draw format is cool, but how we supposed to know its not rigged.”
A second wrote: “Somehow ChatGPT deciding the Champions League draw feels more rigged than them just pulling clubs by vibe and placing them wherever they want.”
A third commented: “We’ve got a Champions League draw being done by a ‘supercomputer’. Games gone.”
A fourth said: “Brand new Champions League format, and Man City still get the easy draw. Most blatant fixing you could possibly get.”
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A fifth joked: “The Champions League draw is done by a computer. They’re never beating the match-fixing allegations now.”
Another added: “This UCL draw being computerised means it’s 100% rigged.”
However nobody offered proof for any suggestions that the draw was rigged.
Uefa took measures to protect the draw from hackers.
This included hiring a third party, London-based company AE Live, to deal with cyber security.
A spokesman for AE Live, when asked about how prepared they are against hackers, said: “We take cyber security very seriously.
“We are always held to account.
“This is a very critical and sensitive issue.
“We have taken the highest industry practices to confirm it will be secure.
“I can assure you as a company we have taken all the steps we can to make sure it is as safe and secure as possible.
“We have gone through the risk assessment but this is not new for us.”
AE Live have been working alongside Uefa since last September to produce the software capable of executing the draw.
Each club will play eight matches in the opening phase – against seeded opposition, in a system designed to ensure that teams play opponents of similar difficulty.
The top eight teams in the “final” table will automatically go through to the last 16, where they will be joined by the eight play-off winners of ties between the sides placed ninth to 24th in the table.
Despite there being just eight matches in the opening phase, European matches will be spread over 10 midweek slots.
The new Champions League format also sees the implication of two additional qualifying spots.
They will be awarded to the nations that are top of the “country coefficient” chart each season.
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