Gary Lineker reveals the ‘unfair’ Champions League rule that he thinks should be scrapped… as pundit argues it gives home teams ‘an advantage’ in European knockout games

Gary Lineker has called for the Champions League to scrap a current rule because it gives an ‘unfair’ advantage to one team in the knockout stages of the competition.

This week’s quarter-final first-leg encounters saw Manchester City draw 3-3 with Real Madrid and Arsenal rescue a 2-2 scoreline against Bayern Munich during a stunning few days of action.

Both English clubs now face the prospect of extra time if the scores remain level for another 90 minutes, but Lineker believes the additional time ruling should be changed by UEFA.

The tournament organisers have made changes to the format and rules of the competition in recent years in a bid to make games more entertaining with this the last year of the current format and having previously gotten rid of the away goals rule.

However, former Spurs and England striker Lineker believes more changes are needed because the current extra time rule means the team hosting second-legs get an additional 30 minutes playing with the support of their home crowd behind them.

Explaining his reasoning for wanting the rules to be altered, Lineker said on The Rest Is Football podcast: ‘I campaigned for years to get rid of the away goals rule and when it came to fruition a couple of years ago I got a lot of stick from people because I was kind of saying “this is good for the game”.

‘The only other thing to get rid of now and this again is purely because of fairness, I think you shouldn’t have extra-time if the scores are level after two games. I think you should go to penalties.

‘At the moment that gives the home side in the second-leg an extra half-hour at home which is an advantage and no team should have an advantage certainly in the quarter-final stages of the Champions League,’ he added.

‘The last-16 because they earn that place playing the second game at home because of where you finish in the group but in the quarters that’s not the case.

‘For example if Arsenal go to the Allianz next week and draw then it goes to extra time and Bayern Munich get an extra half-hour at home. Doesn’t seem fair to me,’ said Lineker.

The drawing of the last-eight teams in the competition means it is total luck to see what team is drawn to play the second-leg at home rather than based off qualifying measures in round-of-16 games.

Arsenal face the daunting prospect of trying to get a result at Bayern Munich’s home next week, while Pep Guardiola’s Man City can look to use their home advantage to find a way past Real Madrid.

Lineker’s co-host and legendary Premier League striker Alan Shearer agrees the rule needs changing, adding: ‘I would say that across the board in terms of extra time.’

The BBC Match of the Day host then claimed going straight to penalties is a better option, stating:  ‘I think it’s time to get rid of it with the exception possibly of a final. Even then I wouldn’t because once it gets to extra time, everyone just wants it to go to penalties anyway don’t they. Everyone loves watching a penalty shootout.’