UEFA abolished the away goal rule in 2021 but football seems to be suffering because of that. There seems to be less excitement in first leg matches.
Is The Removal Of The Away Goal Rule Ruining European Football?
In 2021, UEFA decided to part ways with the away goal rule. They deemed it ‘no longer appropriate for an away goal to carry more weight than one scored at home’.
Away teams have been more tactical in their approaches in the first leg. In the Champions League, three games have resulted in a 1-0 win for the home team and two of the games have ended in draws.
The away side seem to keeping possession and not risking anything in order to take the game back to their stadium with the aggregate score remaining at 0-0. This is a boring way to control the two ties and to make the first leg seem irrelevant.
In Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Porto, the Gunners failed to register a single shot on target. Arsenal’s possession totted at 65% with 495 passes made. They almost got the result that they played for until a 94th minute winner came from Galeno.
With the away goal rule deducted, away sides find it pointless to go and score in the first leg because their goal doesn’t mean as much. Arsenal wanted to treat the second leg like any other game, but they now find themselves 1-0 down because of their poor tactical approach.
It’s making the Champions League and other European competitions tough to watch as they don’t carry the same excitement. It’s time to bring back the away goal rule or get rid of two-legged fixtures.
Pundits verdict
talkSport regular Gabby Agbonlahor had a lot to say on the matter when Alan Brazil asked him if the Champions League is getting tough to watch. He said: “Don’t get me started on it.
“When I was younger, in my teenage years, we did not have the Sky channels or anything like that. We had one to five; you would watch the match on ITV, and I would love the away goals rule.
“You’re watching the games, like the Valencia teams and the Italian teams when they were on top. You were like, ‘The away team is going to go all out for that away goal’.
“It has just changed football. Say Arsenal go to Porto and get an away goal, and it ends 1-1, for instance. They know Porto have come on to them at the Emirates, and it changes the whole game.
“For me, away goals should come back. For Porto now, away goals don’t matter; we will just sit back and play five at the back, probably. Try and nick a goal at the counterattack, and keep it like that.”
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