The UEFA Champions League and Europa League are the two pillars of European club football, but is it time to change its format?
Let us first discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having two legged ties. One of the advantages of two legged ties is that both teams get to play twice but in each other's territory. So, for example if Manchester United played Barcelona at the Camp Nou, they would have to play them again at Old Trafford, which is a positive thing becuase they will have home support from the crowd. However, one of the disadvantages could be that it adds to their fixture list which means they will be playing more games. Not to say that this is a bad thing, but what about the clubs who have slightly smaller squads and do not have enough money to add to them in terms of bench strength?
You look at the top sides such as City and Barcelona and say well the reason as to why they are contenders is becuase they have some of the best players in their starting line-ups. Well, that may be true but they also have quality on their bench so that if one player gets injured, they can easily be replaced, whereas the smaller teams have to search for players who can fill the place of those who are out with injuries, which is always a struggle if the transfer window is not open or more importantly if a club is struggling to find players of a higher quality to try and boost their squad.
One of the other issues with two-legged ties is that it's so much of an advantage to the away team, especially in the first leg, as one goal counts as double if they score in the second leg. therefore in my opinion that is slightly unfair.
But on the plus side you can say that having a two legged tie adds to the drama as a lot can happen in those two matches. Take Liverpool's miraculous comeback against Barcelona in the second leg of the semifinal clash at Anfield, where the Reds were trailing 3-0 on aggregate. the odds were against them to turn the tie around, but Jurgen Klopp's men delivered one of the greatest nights at Anfield where the six-time Champions League winners stunned Ernesto Valverde's side with a thumping 4-0 win to advance into the final.
Mauricio Pochettino did a similar thing during his time at White Hart Lane. Spurs lost their home leg to Ajax 1- 0 in the second semifinal and needed to win. the match was on a knife-edge at 2-2 and Tottenham still needed one more goal to qualify for the final and Lucas Moura managed to find it in virtually the last kick of the game. This is why most people are still in favour of two-legged fixtures for the knockout phases for each tournament. they feel it adds more drama and both teams have two bites of the cherry to try and knock each other out of the tournament. However, the negative side to this could be that the team playing away first as an advantage, becuase if they score in the first leg, it counts as double so then the team playing away in the second leg will have to beat the other teams aggregate score to win.
With the FA Cup now being a straight knockout competition due to the exclusion of replays, some people may feel that eliminating two-leg ties may feel that the Champions League even overshadow it in terms of popularity.
The away goals rule was invented in 1965-66 by UEFA as a way of breaking ties in football so that the team who scores the most away goals wins. So, for example, if a team defeats another team 2-1 in the first leg, the team who got the one goal in that game would only need to win by 1 goal to 0 as an away goal counts as double. Extra-time and penalties can only take place if both teams have scored the same amount of away goals.
This may sound confusing at first, but some fans find it helps by adding an extra narrative to the match becuase of the combination of having two matches along with the away goals rule. So you have the beginning of the story, which is the first leg and then the last part, which is the second leg.
A tournament should never lose its identity by changing its tradition. Therefore, two-legged ties in both the Europa and Champions League are still the way to go in terms of keeping its popularity.
Feature Image: Champions League Trophy by xchange tickets
