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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Matt C Jones

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher slams 'terrible' Champions League decision

Liverpool great Jamie Carragher said he thinks the abolishment of the away goals rule in the Champions League is a "terrible decision" by UEFA.

The call has been made to scrap the long-standing regulation, which meant goals netted away from home over a two-legged knockout tie would count double if the scores were level on aggregate.

On Tuesday, the first last-16 matches with this rule stripped back were played and the tactics of the teams on show made for interesting viewing.

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While Manchester City romped to an emphatic 5-0 victory over Sporting CP in Lisbon to effectively book their quarter-final spot, the other fixture was a much tighter affair between Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid.

An incredible stoppage-time goal from Kylian Mbappe proved to be the difference between the sides in a 1-0 win for the Parisians and for long spells of the game the visitors played in an ultra-defensive manner.

With the value of away goals now diminished, plenty on social media made the connection between the new stipulations and the disengaged approach from Carlo Ancelotti's team.

Carragher was one of those.

"Terrible decision to abolish the away goal rule" he tweeted in a response to a tongue-in-cheek post that suggested "UEFA need to come up with some way to incentivise attacking play from the away side in knockout games."

While it's still early days in the Champions League knockouts, it will be fascinating to see if the approach taken by Ancelotti and Madrid is followed, especially at the sharp end of the competition.

On Wednesday, two of European football's best attacking sides are in action on the road, as well as arguably the two best players on the planet at the moment.

Liverpool and Mohamed Salah head to the San Siro to face Inter Milan, while a Bayern Munich team spearheaded by Robert Lewandowski visit Red Bull Salzburg.

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