Man City Could 'Steal' Home Advantage From Arsenal in CL After UEFA Rule Change

Teams involved in this season's Champions League can effectively 'steal' home advantage if they beat a higher-ranked opponent who has home advantage in the latter stages of the competition.

Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Tottenham, Barcelona, Chelsea, Sporting Lisbon and Manchester City have all advanced directly to the round of 16 after finishing in the league phase top eight.

Meanwhile, the teams who finished between 9th and 24th in the league phase have qualified for the Champions League knockout phase play-off draw, which took place in Switzerland on Friday morning.

Newcastle were drawn against Qarabag, while Real Madrid will travel to Benfica in a repeat of their final league phase fixture.

Real Madrid will face Benfica in the knockout phase play-off. Image credit: Getty

For those unaware, league-phase positions in this season's edition have been given far more significance after UEFA changed home-field advantage rules so that the team finishing higher in the league phase will always host the second leg.

That's right. Teams who finished first and second in the league phase will play every knockout round with the second leg at home, while teams who placed third and fourth will get home advantage in the round of 16 and quarter-finals.

However, that home-field advantage can effectively be stolen.

As mentioned in a report by AS, if a lower-ranked team eliminates a higher-ranked opponent, they will inherit that seeded position for subsequent rounds, meaning progress in the tournament can override league hierarchy.

The report says: "For example, if the team that finished 16th knocks out the team that finished second in the round of 16, the 16th-place finisher assumes the No. 2 seed for the rest of the tournament and gains the right to play second legs at home."

Arsenal topped the league phase table after going unbeaten. Image credit: Getty

As mentioned in section 19.04 of the Regulations of the UEFA Champions League handbook, teams can inherit a seeding position for subsequent rounds if they eliminate a higher-ranked opponent.

"Seeded teams, i.e. teams ranked 1 to 4 after the league phase, play the return leg at home in the quarter-finals, and teams ranked 1 and 2 also play the return leg of the semi-finals at home," it reads.

"If a seeded team is beaten in any round, the team that eliminates them takes over their seeding position in the bracket path (i.e. the higher ranking for seeding purposes is not recalculated after each round)."

Another scenario may involve Manchester City, who finished eighth in the league phase table. They could potentially beat Arsenal in the quarter-final stage and steal their 'home advantage' for subsequent rounds.