Champions League semi finals: Exploring tiebreaker rules

Champions League semi finals: The quarterfinal draw for the Champions League featured four tantalizing double-headers, and none of the matches fell short of expectations. The remaining teams in the competition’s semi-finals consist of organizations from across Europe, including an unexpected participant.

Bayern Munich will face Real Madrid, who eliminated Manchester City, the champions from the previous year. A remarkable recovery by Paris Saint-Germain against Barcelona advanced the club to a semifinal matchup with Borussia Dortmund. The fixtures for this week will virtually assure more controversy.

Champions League semi-final fixtures

Tuesday, 30 April (first leg)
Bayern Munich – Real Madrid
Wednesday, 1 May (first leg)
Borussia Dortmund – Paris Saint-Germain
Tuesday, 7 May (second leg)
Paris Saint-Germain – Borussia Dortmund
Wednesday, 8 May (second leg)
Real Madrid – Bayern Munich

Teams are playing home-and-away matches, just like in the previous round of 16 and the semi-finals. People continue to have concerns if the number of goals scored in the two contests fails to distinguish them. We determine these close encounters as follows.

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Do away goals in the Champions League count as doubles?

Prior to the 2021/22 Champions League knockout stage, the organizers implemented an essential rule change that affected a factor that had determined so many games in previous tournament editions. UEFA eliminated the practice referred to as “the away goals rule” for all two-legged European contests in the summer of 2021, constituting the actual decision.

In 1965, they implemented the away goals rule, which states that if the aggregate score is tied, they will count any goals scored by the visiting team in both the home and away legs as doubles.

Are the teams tied in the game? Extra time followed by penalties

This rule has no effect on the first leg of these knockout matches, which concludes after regulation time. However, should the aggregate score of the second leg remain tied at the conclusion of regulation time, the game will proceed to extra-time. Extra-time spans a duration of 30 minutes, with teams exchanging ends after each 15-minute period.

Subsequently, if the score remains tied, the game will resolve through a penalty shootout, with five players from each team participating. This shootout will be sudden-death-proof if the score remains unchanged even after both teams have executed their five spot-kicks.

What prompted UEFA to eliminate the away goals rule?

UEFA justified the huge move with statistics. “Since the mid-1970s, statistics indicate that the difference between the average number of goals scored per match away from home (from 2.02-0.95 to 1.58-1.15) and the percentage of home victories that resulted in away victories has decreased steadily from 61%-19% to 47%-30% in men’s competitions.”

Recent competitions proved the away goals rule should be scrapped. Even with 90 minutes of 90-minute defense and 10 men behind the ball, home teams would focus on preventing goals. No great football game happened. The visiting team fell behind when their home stadium resolved the deadlock in the second leg because the first leg team parked their coach.

If the match is deadlocked after 180 minutes, teams that host the second leg will play extra-time and a penalty shootout in front of their home crowd without the away goals rule. Regulators value equilibrium.