Uefa is planning to make changes to the Champions League to prevent a repeat of the situation that has resulted in Arsenal playing the second leg of their semi-final away at Paris Saint-Germain, despite being one of the top seeds.
Arsenal finished third in the 36-team league stage and were one of eight teams seeded for the knockout rounds, but under the current rules the fixture schedule is determined by an open draw, leaving Mikel Arteta’s side little advantage from their impressive performances earlier in the competition.
Real Madrid were given the advantage of playing the second leg of their quarter-final tie at the Bernabeu last month, with Arsenal still winning 5-1 on aggregate, but they now face the difficult task of overturning last week’s 1-0 first leg defeat at the Parc des Princes, despite PSG having finished 15th in the league stage.
Uefa officials have had talks about changing the regulations so seeded teams are guaranteed a second-leg tie at home throughout the competition until they meet another seed, at which point the team that finished higher in the league would play at home in the second leg.
Barcelona face Inter Milan in the other semi-final second leg on Tuesday night following last week’s thrilling 3-3 draw at the San Siro.
The Spanish giants finished above Inter in the league phase, although the fact that they have home advantage in the second leg is purely down to chance.
Uefa is happy with the first season of the new Champions League format, with 36 teams ranked in a single league in the opening phase, but are open to making further changes.
Another idea under discussion is for the winners of the group stage to be guaranteed a last-16 tie against the lowest-ranked qualifier coming through the play-offs.
Liverpool also received little reward for their impressive performances in the league stage this season.
Arne Slot’s side finished top after winning their first seven matches, but were paired with PSG in the last 16 and lost on penalties following a 1-1 aggregate draw.
A more radical change that has been mooted is to abandon penalty shootouts in the qualifying play-offs to determine the final eight teams in the last 16, with the highest-ranked team in the group going through in the event of an aggregate draw.
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Given broadcasters value the drama of penalty shootouts, however, it appears unlikely that will be adopted, while some at Uefa also have concerns that having different rules in different rounds would impact the integrity of the competition.
The proposed changes are currently being discussed by Uefa’s football department, although they may not be introduced in time for next season’s competition.
Responsibility for rule changes sits with Uefa’s Competitions Committee before being passed on to Uefa’s Executive Committee for ratification.
There is only one remaining Executive Committee meeting before next season’s Champions League qualifiers begin in June, and that is scheduled to take place ahead of the Europa League final in Bilbao in a fortnight, so any significant rule changes could be delayed until the 2026-27 season.
Uefa’s Competitions Committee considered a proposal to scrap extra time and go straight to penalties due to concerns about player welfare earlier this season, but ultimately opted to retain the additional 30 minutes.
Uefa had faced pressure to scrap extra time to reduce the burden on players, but chose to keep it amid concerns that going straight to penalties would lead to more negative football.
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