Fans call for Champions League to return to ITV

A promo video from Barcelona and Chelsea's epic Champions League rivalry from the mid 00s has fans calling for the competition to be back on ITV.

There's very little in the world that doesn't seem in some way better seen through the eyes of sentimental affection, and that's definitely true with football.

Every Manchester United fan of a certain age can easily recall such commentary lines as "FULL SPEED AHEAD BARCELONA" and "MANCHESTER UNITED HAVE REACHED THE PROMISED LAND, and "AND SOLSKJAER'S WON IT!"

In 12 years from 2000, the two sides faced each other 12 times in the competition, with six of those meetings coming from February 2005 to October 2006.

The promo video for the later games in 2006 recently went viral on social media and the flash of nostalgia had fans calling for ITV to get the rights to show UEFA's premier club competition once again.

ITV had been the main broadcaster of the competition from 1992, when it changed from the European Cup, before Sky also bought some of the rights.

Initially the two shared live matches, with ITV getting one game a week, before they eventually just carried the highlights shows for terrestrial television.

BT Sport bought all the rights to live games and highlights in 2013, and people without a subscription have been starved ever since.

They do at least show the final on YouTube every season, allowing more fans to view the game for free.