I see what you are getting at. But honestly think that it is impossible to defend the Champions Leage. There is a reason to that. If you look at the recent CL seasons, no team came acutally close to defend the title, even if a team reached a few finals (Lolapool, ManUnited), Barca being the exception for being an exceptional team. The teams who play CLfootball always improve and lots of them aren´t able to keep up with the pace of how the football develops. Inter is a good example for that. There are so many reasons why it is almost impossible. Even if a team came close, they always have been fairly beaten.