UEFA changed Champions League rule after Arsenal criticism of PSG advantage

Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain will lock horns for the fourth time in two seasons when they face off in the Champions League final, and their last meeting drew heavy criticism

Arsenal's run to the Champions League final has coincided with a helpful rule change from UEFA. The tweak was made after the Gunners were left aggrieved following their last meeting with Paris Saint-Germain.

UEFA's new league table format for the Champions League started in the 2024-25 season, and Arsenal were one of eight teams who secured direct qualification to the last 16. That also earned the Gunners home advantage in the second leg of their round-of-16 clash with PSV Eindhoven. But that didn't apply for the remainder of the knockouts, much to Arsenal's frustration.

Their frustration increased when PSG, who'd finished 12 places below Arsenal and needed to go through the play-offs, ended up being drawn as the home team for the second leg when the two met in last year's semi-finals. Mikel Arteta's side also didn't have a home second leg when they got past Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, despite finishing above them in the league phase.

Arsenal had go to Paris in an effort to overturn their 1-0 home defeat, ultimately losing 3-1 on aggregate after a keenly-contested semi-final tie. This season, however, there's been a change.

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UEFA have extended the seeding for the entirety of the knockouts. Thanks to finishing top of this season's table, Arsenal were able to have home advantage in all three of their second legs.

That particularly came in handy for the last-16 and semi-final stages. Firstly, the Gunners could only manage a 1-1 draw away to Bayer Leverkusen in the round-of-16 first leg before making their home advantage count in the second, winning 2-0 on the night.

Then in the semis, Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw by Atletico Madrid in the Spanish capital. When it was time to meet again in London, the Gunners won 1-0 and booked their ticket to Budapest.

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PSG fans will note that this season, they had an away second leg for all three of their knockout ties beyond the play-off phase, having finished 11th in the table. They conquered Chelsea and Liverpool in their own backyards before a 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich in Germany was enough to send them through to another final, so it's seemingly not a problem for the French giants.

There is, though, still a debate over how the seeding works. If a team beats a side that finished higher than them in the table, they 'steal' their opponents' place. For example, Atletico earned a home second leg in this season's quarter-final tie against Barcelona, as they'd knocked Tottenham out in the previous round, with Spurs having finished one place above Barca.