Champions League quarterfinals: Who gets home advantage in the second leg?

Barcelona against PSG. Deportivo La Coruña against AC Milan. Both Roma and Liverpool against Barça. And now Sporting against Bodø/Glimt. The Champions League has produced countless memorable comebacks over the years, and many share one thing in common: the team coming from behind to win often hosts the second leg.

Why the second leg at home matters

Playing the second leg at home has long been seen as an advantage, in the Champions League or any two-legged tie. With a vociferous crowd behind them, home teams can squeeze every last drop of effort from their players, a potentially decisive factor in do-or-die situations.

This season’s quarterfinals feature four teams with that perceived edge: Liverpool against PSG, Bayern Munich against Real Madrid, Arsenal against Sporting, and Atlético Madrid against Barcelona. The last of these ties has sparked extra debate, especially among unhappy Barça fans.

How the knockout phase works

In the knockout phase playoffs and the recently completed round of 16, teams that finished higher in the initial league phase earned the reward of a home game in the second leg.

In the playoffs, teams finishing ninth through 16th hosted the second leg against opponents ranked 17th through 24th.

In the round of 16, the top eight teams from the league phase were granted a home game in the second leg. Every club that had to play away in the second leg had reached the round of 16 through the playoffs.

Barcelona lose out in quarterfinals shake-up

From the quarterfinals onward, league phase performance no longer guarantees a home advantage.

For three of the four quarterfinal ties, the team that finished higher in the standings will enjoy a second leg at home. But the clash between Barcelona, fifth in the league phase, and Atlético, 14th, breaks the pattern.

That anomaly is thanks to Atlético’s win over Tottenham Hotspur, fourth in the league phase, in the round of 16. Had Spurs advanced, Atlético would have played the second leg at home against Barcelona, who they finished ahead of in the table. By defeating Spurs, Diego Simeone’s side effectively “steal” the Premier League’s second-leg home advantage, giving them Estadio Metropolitano in front of their fans.

Small margins, big difference?

Ironically, Atlético already beat Barcelona in a two-legged Copa del Rey tie while playing the second leg on the road. Maybe it doesn’t matter all that much. But in the Champions League, where margins are razor-thin, every little edge can count.

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