UEFA scraps random second-leg allocation following Arsenal attracts in opposition to Actual Madrid and PSG.
Photograph by David Ramos/Getty Pictures
UEFA has to its Champions League knockout format, following criticism over final season’s scheduling that noticed Arsenal denied residence second legs regardless of ending properly above Actual Madrid and PSG within the league section.
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From the 25/26 season onwards, the workforce that finishes larger within the league stage will robotically host the second leg of any two-legged knockout tie.
The rule will even apply to the Europa League, Convention League, and Girls’s Champions League.
Photograph by Angel Martinez/Getty Pictures
Final season, residence benefit within the latter levels of UEFA competitions was decided by a random draw, a system that got here below heavy scrutiny when Arsenal, who completed third, had been drawn to play the second leg of their quarter-final away to an Eleventh-placed Actual Madrid facet.
Arsenal made straightforward work of each legs, however questions had been raised as to why the facet with the stronger league efficiency was not rewarded with the advantage of internet hosting the second leg.
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Then the identical factor occurred for the semi-final.
UEFA’s new coverage introduces a dynamic seeding system. Ought to a lower-ranked workforce knock out a higher-seeded opponent, they may inherit their seeding place for subsequent rounds.
In sensible phrases, had the rule been in impact final season, Arsenal would have performed the decisive leg in opposition to Actual Madrid in north London, not that it mattered.
Had Madrid then progressed, they’d have taken over Arsenal’s third-place seeding within the semi-finals, nearly guaranteeing a house second leg.
As a substitute, Arsenal had been once more drawn at residence within the first leg of the semi-final in opposition to PSG, regardless of them ending even decrease than Actual Madrid in fifteenth. A house second leg tie right here might need made all of the distinction.
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Though UEFA didn’t explicitly identify the Arsenal-Actual Madrid nor Arsenal-PSG fixtures because the set off for the change, the implications are clear.
Arsenal had been understood to be annoyed by the method, notably given their sturdy exhibiting within the league section.
UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin framed the modification as a part of a wider effort to refine the competitors’s format, now heading into its second yr of the Swiss-style league system.
By eradicating likelihood from the draw, UEFA hopes to make sure that sporting advantage, somewhat than randomness, determines key benefits within the knockout rounds.