Uefa take clear stance on heated away goals rule debate in Champions League

Uefa plan to persist without the away goals rule, and believe that has been vindicated by the way knockout games have gone since. There are no plans to discuss bringing it back.

An initially stale last 16 had led to debate that the regulation – where goals away from home counted double in the event of an aggregate draw – should be restored, in order to return a missing tension to Champions League games. The rule was abolished in the summer of 2021.

While there is an acceptance within Uefa that the idea initially led to tension within European ties, the belief is that away goals ultimately removed more excitement than they brought.

The primary example cited within Uefa is that of Real Madrid-Atletico Madrid in the 2016-17 Champions League semi-finals. Real Madrid went 3-0 up in the first leg only for Atletico to storm back with two goals in the last-ever European tie at the old Vicente Calderon stadium. With the atmosphere steadily building, Karim Benzema then scored an away goal to just kill the tie.

The argument is that this situation had more of an effect on games than the initial tension, especially with how they conditioned the crucial final stages of games.

There was, ironically, a similar example in the last game to finish in this year's last 16. Atletico knocked out Internazionale on penalties but only after Federico Dimarco had made it 2-0 on aggregate to the Italian side with a goal at the Metropolitan.

Under the old rules, Atletico would have needed three goals, with the scale of the task likely making the game much more subdued. They instead immediately scored and just needed another to level the game up, creating excitement that eventually led to a penalty shootout.