Neither away-goals change nor PSG and Bayern look likely to halt English march in Europe

Fifty years ago, in the now-defunct competition the European Cup-Winners Cup, a British team went to Lisbon to play Portugal’s Sporting. The tie became forever remembered because of confusion over the away-goals rule.

Glasgow Rangers were the visitors and finished a see-saw, 230 minutes - it went to extra-time - against Sporting with the aggregate score at 6-6. They were puzzled when, having lost the game in Portugal 4-3, the referee told them the contest needed to be settled by a penalty shoot-out.

The spot-kicks went ahead, Sporting winning them, before it was established the referee had made an embarrassing error. Rangers’ three away goals were in fact enough, under rules that had been in operation in Europe’s club football tournaments for a few years, to have taken them through. The result was reversed, the spot-kicks annulled, and the Scottish club went on to win the competition.

The away-goals rule, where, in the event of a draw over a two-legged tie, the side who has scored more away from home progresses, had been used in Uefa competitions from the mid-1960s. But, as of this week, following an overdue reform, it no longer applies in the knockout rounds of the major club competitions organised by European football’s governing body.

Part of the reason the rule has been abandoned is that the sport at elite level has altered. So-called ‘home advantage’ has reduced. Travel is easier, so away teams no longer suffer the same levels of fatigue as they used to. The standard of pitches has improved uniformly, so the same skill-sets are valid home or away. Referees, now backed up by VAR, are less open to the suspicion that they might be influenced by a partisan home crowd.

PSG RATINGS: Gianluigi Donnarumma – 7. The Italian