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Home » How Do Aggregate Score Lines and Away Goals Work In Football?

How Do Aggregate Score Lines and Away Goals Work In Football?

If you’ve ever watched knockout football competitions, chances are that you’ve heard people talk about aggregate score lines and away goals quite frequently. For a game where the sole purpose is to kick a ball in a net, the rules really can get confusing at times.

On that note, how do aggregate score lines and away goals work in football?

In summary, an aggregate score line is the combined score line for a cup tie that includes two matches. The away goal rule is a tie breaker that favours the team that scores more goals away from home.

Let’s take a closer look at what this means.

What is an aggregate score line?

In knockout football competitions, each round (also known as cup ties) is typically played over two matches (also known as legs), so that each team is given the opportunity to play a match at their home ground.

This way, home ground advantage cannot be argued as a prominent factor over the two legs.

The aggregate score line is the combined score line of the cup tie over the two legs.

For example, if Team A wins the first leg by 1 goal and then loses the second leg by 2 goals, then Team A would lose the cup tie 2-1 on aggregate, as per the graphic below.

Aggregate score lines in football

What is the away goal rule?

The away goal rule is the first of three conventional tie breakers used in knockout football to determine the winner of a match when the two teams are tied at the end of a match.

The other two tie breakers are extra time, followed by penalty shootouts.

In the event that the score line is tied after 90 minutes, the team that scored the most goals away from their home ground is given the victory.

Scoring away from home is thought to be more difficult than scoring at home, thus away goals can be extremely significant when the game ends in a tie.

The away goals rule is a little confusing, as there are several scenarios where it applies and several where you think it may apply, but it doesn’t.

The following 6 scenarios illustrate all of the potential outcomes in a two-legged cup tie.

Scenario 1

First leg: Team A (home) 1 – 0 Team B (Away)

Second leg: Team A (Away) 0 – 0 Team B (Home)

Aggregate score: Team A 1-0 Team B

Result: Team A wins on aggregate.

Scenario 2

First leg: Team A (home) 0 – 1 Team B (Away)

Second leg: Team A (Away) 0 – 0 Team B (Home)

Aggregate score: Team A 0-1 Team B

Result: Team B wins on aggregate.

Scenario 3

First leg: Team A (home) 1 – 1 Team B (Away)

Second leg: Team A (Away) 0 – 0 Team B (Home)

Aggregate score: Team A 1-1 Team B

Result: Team B wins on away goals, even though both teams scored the same number of goals.

Scenario 4

First leg: Team A (home) 2 – 1 Team B (Away)

Second leg: Team A (Away) 0– 0 Team B (Home)

Aggregate score: Team A 2-1 Team B

Result: Team A wins on aggregate, even though team B scored an away goal, and Team B did not.

Scenario 5

First leg: Team A (home) 1 – 2 Team B (Away)

Second leg: Team A (Away) 1 – 0 Team B (Home)

Aggregate score: Team A 2-2 Team B

Result: Team B wins on away goals because they scored more away goals than Team A, even though the score is tied on aggregate.

Scenario 6

First leg: Team A (home) 0 – 2 Team B (Away)

Second leg: Team A (Away) 2 – 0 Team B (Home)

Aggregate score: Team A 2-2 Team B

Result: the score is tied after the two matches, and the away goal rule cannot be used as a tie breaker. This game will thus proceed to extra time. If the score line indicated in scenario 6 were reversed (i.e both Team A and Team B scored twice, at home), extra time would still be the end result.

It’s important to note that in extra time, the away goals rule still applies. That means that if the away team scores a goal in extra time, the host will have to score 2 goals to win the match.

In this scenario, the match cannot go to penalties. The match can only result in a penalty shootout if the score remains tied after extra time.

Controversies with the away goal rule

The fact that the away goal rule exists during extra time has caused quite a bit of controversy in the past.

The reason for this is that many believe that after 180 minutes (2 full matches), the away goal rule should not be applicable in extra time. This is because the home team in the second leg is technically at a disadvantage, despite the fact that they seemingly have the home ground advantage during extra time.

In this scenario, if the home team concedes a goal, they will have to score two in order to win the game.

Essentially, the home team in the second leg is susceptible to being knocked out due to the away goal rule for 120 minutes, while their opposition is only susceptible to this for 90 minutes (in the first leg).

Famous examples of away goal tie breakers

Ever since the away goal rule was introduced to European football, there have been several games that have been decided in rather dramatic fashion as a result of it.

I have listed 5 great examples of matches decided by the away goal rule below.

Manchester United vs Paris Saint Germain (2019)

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First leg: Manchester United (home) 0-2 PSG (away)

Second leg: Manchester United (away) 3-1 PSG (home)

Aggregate Score: Manchester United 3-3 PSG

Result: Manchester United won on away goals.

In the 2018/2019 Champions League Round of 16, PSG were the clear favourite after the first leg. They absolutely dominated Manchester United at Old Trafford during their away match. Nobody in their right mind would have bet on a United victory, going into the second leg.

However, to quote Ole Gunnar Solskjær in preparation for the second leg, “Mountains are meant to be climbed”.

The second leg of this cup tie proved to be one of the best Manchester United performances of the season.

Barcelona vs Roma (2018)

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First leg: Barcelona (home) 4-1 Roma (away)

Second leg: Barcelona (away) 0-3 Roma (home)

Aggregate Score: Roma 4-4 Barcelona

Result: Roma won on away goals.

When Barcelona beats you by 4 goals to 1 in any competition, you might as well call it quits in the vast majority of situations. This is exactly what happened in the 2017/2018 Champions League quarter finals.

However, I guess Roma had other ideas. A 3-0 win at their home stadium in the second leg of this cup tie proved to be all that was required to cause a HUGE upset.

I think Kostas Manolas was pretty happy after scoring Roma’s third goal of the night. What do you think?

In this match, despite the score being 4-4 on aggregate, Roma won because they scored more away goals than Barcelona during the cup tie.

Chelsea vs Paris Saint Germain (2015)

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First leg: PSG (home) 1-1 Chelsea (away)

Second leg: PSG (away) 1-1 Chelsea (home)- after normal time, 2-2 after extra time

Aggregate Score: PSG 3-3 Chelsea

Result: PSG won on away goals.

After two hard fought matches in the 2014/15 Champions League round of 16, Chelsea and PSG had nothing to separate them, and had to go into extra time.

It seemed as though home ground advantage was on Chelsea’s side, as Eden Hazard put them 2-1 up in the 6th minute of extra time. David Luiz swiftly cancelled this goal out with a sublime header, making the score line 2-2.

Understandably, this raised questions over whether the away goal rule was actually a fair method of breaking ties when games go to extra time.

Bayern Munich vs Manchester United (2010)

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First leg: Bayern Munich (home) 2-1 Manchester United (away)

Second leg: Bayern Munich (away) 2-3 Manchester United (home)

Aggregate Score: Bayern Munich 4-4 Manchester United

Result: Bayern Munich won on away goals.

This match up was filled with drama.

After losing the first leg of this 2009/2010 Champions League quarter final 2-1, United still stood a fighting chance in the second leg. And they really did put up an incredible performance.

In the second leg, United went 3-0 up in 41 minutes, and it really seemed as though they were in the perfect position to proceed to the semi-finals.

However, after a rather shaky start, Bayern pulled themselves together and scored the two goals that they required to win on away goals. One of which was this absolute beauty by Arjen Robben.

I can still remember Nani’s face when he realised that United had not gone through, despite winning on the night. Sad times.

AC Milan vs Inter Milan (2003)

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First leg: AC Milan (home) 0-0 Inter Milan (away)

Second leg: AC Milan (away) 1-1 Inter Milan (home)

Aggregate Score: AC Milan 1-1 Inter Milan

Result: AC Milan won on away goals.

On paper, this 2002/2003 Champions League semi-final victory may look like a regular, run of the mill away goals victory.

After all, it seems pretty clear cut; AC Milan scored more goals away from home than Inter Milan did, so they deserved to go through.

However, this one gets a bit confusing; AC Milan and Inter Milan have shared the same stadium (the San Siro) since 1947. Therefore, both legs of this cup tie were played at the same stadium. Quite an interesting scenario.

Closing thoughts

While the away goal rule can be confusing, it definitely helps in deciding tied games that otherwise might drag on and be difficult to call. It also adds an interesting dynamic to how teams’ approach both legs of important knockout competition cup ties.

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