By Robbie Butler

In September 2018 I wrote this regarding UEFA discussions to remove the away goals rule. In June 2021, UEFA decided to press ahead with the change so that away goals - a cornerstone of European club competition since 1965 - would no longer be worth double in the event of a draw.

UEFA made a statement saying that: "away goals would no longer be given additional weight to decide a tie, [and] be removed from the criteria used to determine the rankings when two or more teams are equal on points in the group stage i.e. the criteria applied to matches played by the teams in question.". 

European football's governing body provided a rationale for this, stating that: "Statistics from the mid-1970s until now show a clear trend of continuous reduction in the gap between the number of home/away wins (from 61%/19% to 47%/30%) and the average number of goals per match scored at home/away (from 2.02/0.95 to 1.58/1.15) in men’s competitions".

UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin went onto say: "The impact of the rule now runs counter to its original purpose as, in fact, it now dissuades home teams – especially in first legs – from attacking, because they fear conceding a goal that would give their opponents a crucial advantage. There is also criticism of the unfairness, especially in extra time, of obliging the home team to score twice when the away team has scored. It is fair to say that home advantage is nowadays no longer as significant as it once was. Taking into consideration the consistency across Europe in terms of styles of play, and many different factors which have led to a decline in home advantage, the UEFA Executive Committee has taken the correct decision in adopting the view that it is no longer appropriate for an away goal to carry more weight than one scored at home.”

An unintended consequence of the away goals rule (discouraging home teams from attacking in the first leg) appears to be central to the debate. 

With the return of the Champions League knock-out stage this week, it has been interesting to observe teams in action. PSG, Sporting Lisbon, RB Salzburg and Inter Milan all played at home. There was no longer a fear of conceding an "away goal".

While Real Madrid were held scoreless by PSG, the other three away teams (Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Liverpool) all scored at least once. However, these are no longer as valuable as before. This brings in another possible unintended consequence of the new rule - more penalty shootouts. 

Prior to 2021/22 there were five criteria to decide matches in the knockout stage, up to the Final;

1. Number of goals after two legs.
2. Number of away goals after two legs.
3. Number of goals after two legs and extra time.
4. Number of away goals after two legs and extra time.
5. Penalties.

Penalties could be avoided if either team outperformed their opponent in 1, then 2, then 3 and finally 4.​

UEFA's decision has reduced the list to just three.

1. Number of goals after two legs.
2. Number of goals after two legs and extra time.
3. Penalties.

Now penalties can only be avoided by steps 1 or 2. 

Since 2011/12, there have been just 4 penalty shootouts in the Champions League knockout stage (excluding the Final (just one: Chelsea vs Bayern Munich). 15 ties were decided by away goals. However, under the new rules, these 15 ties will now be decided by penalties.

It will be interesting to see how often the 'spot' will be required in the games ahead. My guess is that it will be more than we have seen before. 

By Robbie Butler

When almost all UEFA football came to a halt in March 2020, European leagues became frozen in time. Some leagues were cancelled, others used predicted points to reach a final league table, and others returned to play in empty stadiums during the summer months. 

While Liverpool finally won the Premier League and Real Madrid La Liga, the other three big leagues in Europe were won by the defending champions - PSG, Bayern Munich and Juventus. In the cases of Bayern and Juve, it was their 8th and 9th consecutive league titles.

​They were not alone in UEFA leagues in this regard. Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, eight teams in Europe had winning streaks of 6 years or more. These are presented to the left below.

Following the resumption of football behind closed doors it is interesting to observe how many of these streaks survived. 

Probably the most high-profile casualties were the two teams seeking 10-in-a-row; Celtic and Juventus. Both the Scottish and Italian champions failed to live up to expectations during the 2020/21 season when playing behind closed doors.

Of course, this is not the only reason why they may have come up well short, but neither looked like winning their 10th title in a row from early in the season. Inter Milan (last weekend) and Rangers (a number of weeks ago) have already been crowned champions of Italy and Scotland respectively. 

But these two are not alone in losing their streak. APOEL and Astana both lost their streaks in 2020 and 2021. Of the 8 teams that entered the Covid-19 era with a streak in tact, just 4 are still standing; Bayern, Ludogorets, Qarabag and Red Bull Salzburg. 

It will be interesting to see if a return of fans helps or hinders the cause of the four remaining streaks that have survived Covid.