In case you did not remember, there is no away goals rule in the Champions League this season. This means that any goal Lille score tonight at Stamford Bridge will not be used to separate the tie if the aggregate score is tied - the same goes for Chelsea in France.
Thomas Tuchel shared his opinion on the rule being scrapped: "I had the impression that it gives chance to be more offensive because you can think about scoring and not so much about conceding.
"When we were asked at the UEFA meeting and coaches, I was like the majority and all coaches pretty much voted for this change of rule to make it clearer and more understandable.
"I liked it (away goal rule), I understand it because it gave an edge in terms of the mathematics in away games but at the same time I never fully understood why a 3-1 should be a better result than a 2-0 or worse for one team. You can see it from both sides, maybe it is harder to score 3 or to have a clean sheet to go into the second game.
"I like it because now it is clear, I think maybe we end up with more extra time and penalties because now it will go to extra time and not win by away goals. We are aware of it.
"For us, it changes nothing in the approach for the game tomorrow. We will try to keep a clean sheet, try to attack as good as possible.
If at all it changes a little bit in at all the approach to the second leg, we don’t have to think as much ‘Do we have to score a goal? What do we have to do?’ It’s easier to adapt, let’s get the two games and get them played, do the mathematics and if it's level we go to extra time."
The away goal rule has given us some thrillers over the last few seasons, such as Barcelona being knocked out by Roma back in 2018/19.
Some pundits and fans worry that scrapping this rule will remove the incentive that away teams had to score. However, Tuchel is quite clear that Chelsea's game plan won't change, so we'll just have to wait and see how the game goes.
