This article is not meant as a hark back to Nottingham Forest's two European Cup triumphs or as a comparison to whether winning the competition is now easier or more difficult.
But, this week, a number of sides can progress through to the last sixteen by winning just two of their six group fixtures (including Liverpool and Manchester City) and keep alive their hopes of being crowned European champions next year.
In City's group, AS Roma can progress with just one win from six if the right combination of results happens.
That system meant that Liverpool could field a weakened side for their away game against Real Madrid safe in the knowledge that they still had two more games to play to get the points they needed.
The group stages also mean that an increasing number of fixtures are being repeated year-upon-year and becoming less of a novelty or spectacle.