Carragher reveals he ‘got in touch with UEFA’ over ‘poor decision’
Jamie Carragher has slammed UEFA’s decision to abolish the away goals rule in the Champions League.
The Liverpool legend believes this is “one of the poorest” decisions made in the history of the competition.
His comments came after Real Madrid’s 1-0 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday evening.
Carragher believes their defensive performance in the French capital could have been down to the rule change before explaining how the away goals rule made the Champions League unique.
Two-legged Champions League ties should be next for UEFA axe
When asked if the rule change could have influenced the way Madrid played, Carragher replied (quotes via Metro): “Maybe.
“I think we will need more games and then we can look at the end of the competition to see how most teams react to playing away from home, we see the amount of goals Manchester City scored but that’s in their DNA.
“But I think getting rid of the away goals in one of the poorest decisions we’ve had, it really is.
⬇️ Terrible decision to abolish the away goal rule #ChampionsLeague https://t.co/aGbzgxsTxE
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) February 15, 2022
“I got in touch with UEFA about it. I was that incensed about it because this is what made European football special and different to any other competition.
“All it brings now, without the away goal, is negative performances from away teams and we’ll see more penalty shootouts.
“The away goal meant a team could go from winning a game to losing a game. That couldn’t happen at any other time in football and it created so much tension and suspense in stadiums around Europe.
“I just think we’re going to lose that now, we’ll see more penalty shootouts and hopefully we won’t see more teams playing like Real Madrid did. Maybe they would have played like that anyway, I don’t know.
“But there’s not that incentive to be a little bit more on the front foot away from home and I think it’s a really poor decision.”
Carragher also said that he believes Liverpool are “strong favourites” to progress past Inter Milan in their last 16 tie.
“I’m excited about the tie,” Carragher told CBS Sports.
“I think that’s the real big game of the night and one of the biggest ones of this round.
“But Liverpool and I think Premier League teams now, when they come up against Italian teams, are strong favourites.”
