When UEFA decided to drop the bombshell that it was abolishing the away goals rule ahead of this season's European competitions, some fans were actually dismayed by the news.
Scrapping away goals as a tiebreaker in the knockout rounds, a rule that had been in place since 1965, was decided this past summer and came into effect for the 2021-22 season. Moving forward, in competitions like the UEFA Champions League and Europa League, if teams are tied on aggregate goals after two legs, they go to extra time and, if necessary, a penalty-kick shootout.
The stakes will definitely be high in the current knockout stages, but we've already witnessed the new rule in action in the qualifying rounds in July and August. A small handful of clubs which would have advanced on away goals, wound up eliminated.
French club AS Monaco would have made it to the group stage of the Champions League with the away goals tiebreaker in place, but instead its series against Shakhtar Donetsk went to extra time, where the Ukrainians got one more goal to advance.
It continues to be hotly debated on social media, with many fans, pundits and former players voicing their concerns that the change will be a detriment to the action on the field.
Despite the arbitrary nature of deciding a series on the number of road goals scored, the away goals tiebreaker did serve to add to the tense drama of a knockout tie. With away goals a thing of the past, some worry that it could mean fewer entertaining affairs on the biggest stage.
Why the away goals rule was a good thing
The away goals tiebreaker had become synonymous with European football for over 50 years with teams experiencing incredible highs and crushing lows with goals that turned a series on it head in the blink of an eye.
The rule gave rise to several memorable moments in recent years; Lucas Moura’s last-gasp away winner against Ajax to see Spurs through on away goals (photo below), Marcus Rashford’s late penalty against PSG, or Kostas Manolas’s iconic header for Roma against Barcelona to name a few.
These moments wouldn't have existed without the away goals tiebreaker in place. Knockout rounds will be a slightly different experience moving forward.
At its core, the away goals rule gave road teams an incentive to attack.
That incentive looked decidedly missing from Real Madrid in its trip to Paris to face PSG in the first leg of their 2021-22 Round of 16 series and some were blaming the absence of the away goals tiebreaker.
Against PSG, Madrid sat deep, with only 42 percent possession to their name and only mustering three shots in 90 minutes.
⬇️ Terrible decision to abolish the away goal rule #ChampionsLeague https://t.co/aGbzgxsTxE — Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) February 15, 2022
Expect more visiting teams to adopt a similar road approach to Real Madrid's and concentrate on clinching the series with goals on home turf.
More defensive stalemates like PSG-Real Madrid proved to be for long stretches have the potential to damper both the quality and the entertainment value of these European cup matches with fewer of those moments of magic that capture the imagination.
A reminder that the away goals rule no longer exists in the Champions League knockout stage.
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 15, 2022
End of an era 😢 pic.twitter.com/V65DSDAMM9
I thought for a long time that away goals was outdated and should be abolished. Which it was. But now we’re in a world without it, it seems weirdly obvious that it had a value despite that and abolishing it has taken something away. https://t.co/9Fzz6aZKY9
— Rory Smith (@RorySmith) February 15, 2022
Why no away goals rule will be better
It remains to be seen how the new normal plays out over time.
Without the specter of away goals weighing on the mind of home teams, they should have (slightly) less to fear as they welcome opponents to their grounds’ for knockout ties.
Knowing that away goals don’t factor as heavily in a series as they used to, teams playing at home can theoretically afford to take more risks and that could provide an opportunity for more expressive attacking displays.
For teams hosting the second leg, conceding a goal on home soil will not prove as devastating as it once was. In the past, a road goal had the potential of killing any hopes of a comeback by teams that were trailing on aggregate goals.
Klopp on away goals being scrapped:
— This Is Anfield (@thisisanfield) February 15, 2022
Actually, I can't remember a game where went somewhere and thought 'we go there to get a goal'. We go there to get a result.
Take the 2021-22 Round of 16 series between PSG and Real Madrid: Carlo Ancelotti's men can still feel good about their chances in the second leg despite a 1-0 first-leg loss away from home.
Real Madrid need to score at home, and even if PSG find a way to score a goal of their own at the Estadio Bernabeu, the series will still hang in the balance. Under the old away goals rule, a PSG road goal in this same scenario would force Madrid to score three goals in order to advance since it would lose the tiebreaker on away goals. The calculation changes significantly.
So it's perhaps only after we've experienced a large sample size of second legs that we will truly gain an appreciation for the benefits of abolishing the away goals tiebreaker rule. There will still be plenty of drama. It will just look differently.
