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Champions League rules change, if you do well in the league stage, you will get an ‘extra advantage’ in the knockout stage
UEFA wants to give the teams at the top of the points table in the league stage ‘home advantage’ in the knockout stage, meaning ‘additional benefits’ of playing at home. This rule will be implemented in the next season of the Champions League, ESPN reported. UEFA made this decision after Arsenal and Barcelona were eliminated fromhttps://cpnewsdaily.com/former-mayor/ the semi-finals, the media reported.
Champions League rules change, if you do well in the league stage, you will get an ‘extra advantage’ in the knockout stage
The new edition of the Champions League was organized for the first time this time (2024-25) with 36 teams, where PSG became the champion by crushing Inter Milan 5-0 in the final last Saturday night. In the league stage, the teams that advanced directly from the top eight to the last 16 this season were already guaranteed to play the return leg or second leg at home in this round. But in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, an open lottery is used to decide who will play which leg where. This season, Arsenal and PSG and Inter Milan and Barcelona faced each other in the semi-finals. In the league stage, PSG finished 15th and Arsenal third. Meanwhile, Inter Milan finished fourth and Barcelona second. However, in the semi-finals, Inter and PSG played the return leg at home, although both teams were behind their respective opponents in the league stage. In the end, PSG and Inter reached the final. After winning the first leg at Arsenal’s field in the semi-finals 1-0, PSG won the return leg at home 2-1. After drawing 3-3 in the first leg at Barcelona’s field in the other semi-final, Inter won the return leg at home 4-3.
ESPN reported that from next season’s Champions League, the teams that will be in the best position in the league stage in the knockout stage will play the return leg at home.
However, in the quarter-finals, PSG played the return leg at Aston Villa’s field. Villa (8th) was in a better position than the French club in the league stage. But Real Madrid (11th) played the return leg at home despite being in a worse position than Arsenal in the league stage. The same happened in the Barcelona-Borussia Dortmund match in the quarter-finals – Barca (2nd), who were in a better position than Dortmund (10th) in the league stage, played the return leg at Dortmund’s ground.
