In this strange edition of the Champions League, without an audience in the stadiums and with some matches having to change the planned venues due to sanitary restrictions, the advantage of the field factor seems to have disappeared.
For the first in the history of the competition, since the round of 16 tie was played, seven of the eight matches in the first leg of this round have resulted in a visitor victory, all but one, Porto-Juventus (2-1 ).
Barcelona fell to PSG 1-4, Sevilla to Borussia Dortmund 2-3 and Atlético to Chelsea (0-1).
Madrid prevailed in their visit to Atalanta (0-1), as did Manchester City to Mönchengladbach (0-2), Liverpool to Leipzig (0-2) and Bayern to Lazio (1-4).
In total, 18 away goals were scored (2.25 per game) and only six local goals (0.75).
Barcelona falls on the Camp Nou
The most unnatural Atlético
The multipurpose Mendy and the Kroos plot
Three of the four Spanish teams lost their first leg matches at home.
Barcelona were swept away by PSG at the Camp Nou with a stellar Mbappé last week.
The next day, Halaand scored two goals against Sevilla for Dortmund to come back at the Pizjuán.
This Tuesday, Atlético crashed against Chelsea in Bucharest, forced to play away from Wanda by the pandemic.
The fourth in contention, Real Madrid, the only one who played the first leg as a visitor, achieved an agonizing victory against Atalanta in Bergamo thanks to a goal from Mendy in 88.
The support of the public, essential in the great European nights to turn the stadiums into boilers, no longer exercises its power.
Covid-19 has had a direct impact on the premises.
If before the pandemic, the percentage of games in which visitors managed to score was 54% in the major leagues (Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France), after the confinement it is 60%.
In the Spanish League, the change has been from 53 to 60%.
In addition to this circumstance, several of the round of 16 matches were played in other countries due to the restrictions of governments with flights from the United Kingdom.
In addition to Atlético, who had to go into exile in Bucharest to face Chelsea, Leipzig and Borussia Mönchengladbach faced Liverpool and Manchester City, respectively, in Budapest.
The three duels ended with victory for the English, who will be able to play the second leg in their stadiums.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel admitted that this was "a disadvantage" for his rival.
The only precedent similar to what happened this year was in the 2013-14 season, with six visiting victories in the first leg of the round of 16.
Neither team managed to overcome the tie after losing at home.
Since the Champions League is played with the current format (1992-93), of 75 qualifiers in which the local team lost the first game, only in five, 6%, it has come back.
But four of those machadas have occurred in the last ten years.
In 2011, Inter lifted 0-1 against Bayern at the San Siro with a 2-3 in Munich.
In the 2018-19 edition, one of the most surprising in recent times, United came from PSG 0-2 with a 1-3 in Paris in the round of 16 and Ajax recovered from 1-2 against Madrid in Amsterdam to turn the Bernabéu upside down with a 1-4 in that same round.
In that year's semi-finals, Tottenham knocked Ajax out after losing 1-0 in London and winning 2-3 in a crazy match at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
The fifth case occurred in the semifinals of 1996: Ajax lost 0-1 against Panathinaikos in Amsterdam and won 0-3 in Athens.
