Chelsea welcome Real Madrid to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.
Trailing 2-0 after a Real win last week, the Blues need to dig deep and put in a performance that will dump the reigning European champions out of the competition. With Chelsea struggling at home - they have failed to win their last four matches at Stamford Bridge - supporters are not hopeful.
In their favour, though, is a rule change from two years ago that means all is not lost even if Real open the scoring in the second leg and make it 3-0 on aggregate. In previous years that would have meant Chelsea would have to score four unanswered goals to progress with extra time and penalties out of the equation.
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Because of the alteration to the away goals rule, there is no edge to an away goal being scored meaning they do not count as a tie-breaker. The change to the rule was brought about by UEFA in an attempt to stop home clubs from being too conservative and to try and avoid a situation where a second leg is virtually over early into a game when an away goal is scored.
"Although there was no unanimity of views, many coaches, fans and other football stakeholders have questioned its fairness and have expressed a preference for the rule to be abolished," UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said. "The impact of the rule now runs counter to its original purpose as, in fact, it now dissuades home teams - especially in first legs - from attacking, because they fear conceding a goal that would give their opponents a crucial advantage.
"There is also criticism of the unfairness, especially in extra time, of obliging the home team to score twice when the away team has scored." "It is fair to say that home advantage is nowadays no longer as significant as it once was.
"Taking into consideration the consistency across Europe in terms of styles of play, and many different factors which have led to a decline in home advantage, the UEFA Executive Committee has taken the correct decision in adopting the view that it is no longer appropriate for an away goal to carry more weight than one scored at home."
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