I think it's been explained before and according to the UEFA rules mechanism for the new format is the team who finish at top 8 on League Phase will be automatically advances to the round of 16 and the teams from 9th to 24th places will be playing at play off stages and from this method indeed we will be watching more matches because every teams have to playing 8 matches total from home and away however i am not really sure new format will be effective or not because teams participating in this competition will have a busier schedule than last season
With the new format of the Champions League competition, I am expecting a lot of clubs to actually make some surprises. Maybe it is going to create a new chance for the clubs which are actually not known to perform very well in the Champions League competition. This is going to be a chance for them. At least that’s what I am thinking right now. I also believe that the Champions League competition is going to be more competitive. Even though I do not believe that with the new implementation of the new format, is going to be any harder for Real Madrid. But I am expecting some other teams to actually perform better in the Champions League competition than the traditional ones that we are used to seeing in the Champions League. Maybe there are going to be more surprises now. But still, it is going to be the fight between the best teams in the world. So no matter what the format is it is still going to be competitive