So Liverpool do the impossible and come back from 3-0 down and win the European Cup, but don't qualify to defend it next year. How come the winners of the Champions League don't qualify for the Champions League, but the winners of the Welsh League do? Haven't UEFA heard of the trades description act? Is being Champions of Champions meaningless?

Congratulations Liverpoool, shame on you UEFA.

UEFA could do far worse than automatically granting the holders entry to next year's competition, it would be a useful automatic measure to allow one more teams from the strongest country into the competition without external wrangling.