Always said playing home 1st leg was much better, I'm not sure where this myth of playing at home 2nd leg comes from. Imagine last season if we went down to ten men at home knowing if Barca score twice the tie is good as done. One thing you can't change in the 2nd leg is the away goals. As soon as Torres rounded Valdes last season and tapped it in that was a virtual Golden Goal. Had United been at the Bernebau under the same circumstances they'd have probably dug in and got through. You can't win the tie in the first leg but you can lose it, Arsenal losing 4-0 to Milan last year case in point. I also think 2nd leg at home (particularly with Chelsea) gives greater scope for complacency, we showed this against Copenhagen and Benfica recently in the CL, also in the last round of the Europa League as well. Hopefully on Thursday we take the initiative, Bucharest are very tough at home, get through this and we should be the last British team standing in Europe.
Torres scored because Barcelona were going all out for the win, they wouldn't have been doing that if it was the first leg. You can't just swap games around like that anyway, if you could, you could argue that we'd have benefitted playing like Lyon at home second leg because they wouldn't have been able to sit back so much against us. Playing away first is slightly preferable but it's not some huge advantage though and especially if you're not the better side.
So long as the away goal rule remains, playing away first will never be an advantage. You are correct in that it's circumstantial. Against a team like Barcelona there is always that fear if you don't get a result in the first leg (a win ideally), it's a near impossible task to go to the Camp Nou and qualify.
Away goals need to be scrapped IMO or at least not count until after extra time. I agree about home advantage.
Most pointless rule ever. Whoever it was that decided scoring 2 goals away from home is a bigger accomplishment than scoring 2 at home needs a seeing to. Much like the Golden/Silver Goal rule it's a farce IMO.
I don't think there's an advantage either way. Well unless it goes into extra time. Both teams know what needs to be accomplished in the second leg. All that matters I a getting it done.
Its an advantage because an away goal counts as two, and the home team has no time to react tactically if behind in the second leg. The benefits of away goals are asymmetric in terms of tactical response.
Before the match yesterday we always knew if Real scored twice, United progressing was virtually an impossibility Had United drawn 1-1 at Old Trafford and the same set of circumstances ensued, the game wouldn't have been over. The game was never going to be "won" at any stage for United, even if they went 2-0 up Real were still always in that tie, a Real goal would have changed everything. Contrast that to if Real had gone 2-0 up, the tie is then as good as over.
Before the match yesterday we always knew if Real scored twice, United progressing was virtually an impossibility Had United drawn 1-1 at Old Trafford and the same set of circumstances ensued, the game wouldn't have been over. The game was never going to be "won" at any stage for United, even if they went 2-0 up Real were still always in that tie, a Real goal would have changed everything. Contrast that to if Real had gone 2-0 up, the tie is then as good as over.
